Armageddon's Armageddon
by rayne.holm
Summary: At the first official day of the apocalypse, Armageddon MacManus is saved by three redneck brothers that she knows all too well from her past. They tell her that she owes them her life now, and even though she reacts as hostile to them, she stays with them and hopes that she'll survive long enough to find the two people she loves the most in the world.
1. Christopher Nolan Collection

**Christopher Nolan Collection**

Armageddon exited the store feeling quite proud with my shopping. Con and Murph will be so glad when they hear what I just bought. She smiles even brighter at that thought. This Georgia convention has been so boring, I can't wait until tomorrow when I get to finally go home to them. Armageddon has been here for three days because of work and she's hoping that she's close to a raise because of it because this has been the most dull three days she has ever had.

A scream sounds off not so far away from her and her head snaps up. Armageddon turns to where the scream came from and stares wide eyed at the hysteria. She has seen a lot of horror movies, both ones that looked so fake that it made her turn it off and go watch something else and also movies that seemed so real that it was hard for her to fall asleep the same night. But, the thing that reassured her was that those movies are fake, they're never going to happen in real life. Well, what she saw there changed her point of view about it. In a crowded street, fifty feet away from her, were people jumping on other people and eating them. Their teeth dug into other people's flesh, they ripped it off and swallowed it, like it was a some sort of feast for them. Armageddon suppressed a scream as she watched this happen and questioned reality. Is this a dream?

Zombies do not exist in real life. Nor do vampires or werewolves, which some cults insist they do. Armageddon has never been much of a believer in her life, stuff like vampires and ghosts were something she found ridiculous, and never in a million years did she expect a zombie apocalypse. And if she did, if she actually thought about something like that she always imagined that it would happen when global warming is at its highest and the sun turns red, or something. But none of that has happened today. The sun is bright and yellow. The sky is blue and the clouds are white and fluffy.

The day had seemed perfectly normal up until this moment. Then, all hell broke loose. Everyone was screaming and crying and fleeing from these dead-like monsters that prayed on the helpless humans around them. Of course, there were some people, not a lot but some, who fought back those creatures and terminated them, but eventually they got feasted on like everyone else.

At this moment, the only thing Armageddon wanted to do was to go to the hotel and call Con and Murph, but, if she'd do that then there's a high risk that she might get eaten in the process and she does not want that to happen. So she ran. She started sprinting away from the chaos, dodging people and the monsters.

Armageddon ran and ran, clutching the plastic bag with the Christopher Nolan movie collection that she had bought. She quickly stopped, though, when she realized what she was doing. She shouldn't be focusing all her attention on running away from these monsters, she should be calling Con and Murph. Armageddon reached for her cell-phone and dialed their number.

But, just before they could answer, an arrow flew beside her head and landed in the skull of a zombie that had been approaching her from behind. "Lookie what we have here" A familiar voice said. Armageddon turned around and stared at the three men before her. "What are you doing here, sweetcheeks?" Merle asks and grins. He was not the one who shot the monster, the one who did was his brother, Daryl, who was holding a crossbow. Armageddon took a look at the three brothers and felt dread wash over her. Armageddon has known these men for some time, time that she wishes she could get back so she could spend it in something else then being in their presence.

"You deaf or something?" Mac, the second oldest, asks when she stays silent. "Answer his question!"

"Why the fuck do you care?" Armageddon finally brings herself to answer. Mac and Merle exchange looks and smirk. Daryl just stands there and keeps watch, if any more zombies should come.

"You don't have to be so rude to the man who saved your life" Merle tells her. "And now you owe us."

"I don't owe you shit" Armageddon spits. "And I didn't need your fucking saving."

"OK, we ain't forcing you to do anything. If you think you can do better on your own then that's your problem" Merle says and backs away. He nods to his brothers and they slowly start to leave. Armageddon could not resist thinking what would happen if she would leave with them. Maybe she'd be safe. Maybe there would actually be some security. That's impossible. She told herself. These men are nothing more than rapists, or at least Mac and Merle. Daryl never hits on Armageddon like his brothers do, he doesn't even look her in the eye sometimes.

Armageddon turns around and is about to head back to the hotel when a car circles around her, driving like in The Fast and the Furious movies, before finally stopping in front of her. "Get the fuck in!" Armageddon sighs and obeys, not giving herself the time to think it over or to tell them to fuck off. Secretly, she was relieved. Now, she might actually have a chance to survive long enough to find Con and Murph.


	2. The Next Three Days

The Next Three Days

As Armageddon thinks about what happened yesterday, everything she had seen, everything she had witnessed, she kicks herself for being so stupid. She shouldn't have gotten in the car where the three Dixon brothers were. She had gotten vulnerable and paranoid from seeing the zombie apocalypse start and that's the reason why she had gotten in. Because she desperately clung to the hope that she might be alright if she would be with them. _How stupid of me._ She should have gone to the hotel, contacted Con and Murph and try her best to go back to Boston where they would be waiting for her. Now, there was no way that she could do that. Now, Armageddon was stuck with the three people she despised the most in the world because of a vulnerable moment. If she'd have more of those, especially when she's around the Dixon brothers, Armageddon was afraid of what would happen and what she would let herself do.

After Armageddon had gotten in the car, the brothers took her to their house, which was not far away from Atlanta. They ate and drank, and Mac and Merle got even more friskier with her. Thank god, they were quick to pass out or they would have attempted to rape her, again. Daryl let her sleep in his room and she thanked him for that. Daryl had always been the nicest out of the three Dixon brothers.

Right now, the Dixon brothers are gearing up, prepping for what they're going to do next while Armageddon makes them lunch. _Why the hell am I doing this anyway?_ She asks herself as she serves them the food. Mac squeezes her ass in gratitude and smirks. She ignores him and sits down on the couch, as far away from them as she can. _What are we going to do now?_ She desperately wants to ask them that question but keeps her mouth shut.

"Are we just going to stay here or are we going to go somewhere?" The words escape her lips before she can stop herself. The three brothers all look at her.

"Why the fuck would we go?" Mac asks and raises a brow.

"And where the fuck would we go?" Merle asks.

Armageddon shrugs. "Just asking" She mumbles.

The day went on casually. There weren't any botherings or casualties, which Armageddon was thankful for because she did not want to have to see those creatures any time soon. The brothers exchanged watches and made Armageddon stay inside by any means necessary. They thought she couldn't fight, especially rotten beings like the ones that were slowly devouring the world, and were not ready to put their lives in her hands. Not that she was complaining. The only thing Armageddon questioned was what they were going to do with her. It was obvious that they weren't going to let her run off, and if she did they'd just track her down and bring her back. Armageddon knew that and the three Dixon brothers knew that. But why they would do that, only the Dixon brothers knew why.

That night was nothing like the last one. They did not become careless like the last time and drink until they'd black out, there was too much risk to do that. So they stayed sober and prayed on Armageddon, who was quite helpless. She fought them off and told them to go fuck themselves but that was only white noise in their ears. Mac was the worst one, though. He crept up to her while she slept on the couch and took as much advantage of her as he could without waking her.

She was woken up the next day by the brothers who demanded that she'd get her ass in the kitchen and make them breakfast.

"Why the fuck would I do that?" She snapped and rubbed her tired eyes. She was not a morning person.

"Because you're a fucking broad." And by that, she was thrown into the kitchen. She made them breakfast but didn't put any work into it. That's what Armageddon does. Approach her the right way and she'll be an angel for you. Approach her in the wrong way and she'll curse you out, snap at you and try to make your life a living hell.

 _What I would do to go home to Con and Murph._ Armageddon thought to herself and bit her lower lip. She reached for her cellphone and dialed her soul-mates numbers. There was no signal. "Fucking typical" She mumbled quietly and put her phone back to her pocket. When she looked up and out of the window in front of her, a sight so startling that it made her jump and grab the nearest knife, a giant butcher one. In front of her growled a dead one. It looked disgusting. Dead eyes, rotting skin and yellow teeth that had blood stains, that reminded Armageddon of lipstick stains of old women who never bothered to look in the mirror after applying it on their lips.

Before she could even move, Daryl emerged from the shadows and stabbed the zombie in the head. The zombie collapsed in his arms but he let it fall to the ground with no further thought. He met Armageddon's eyes and examined her thoroughly. She was a sight for sore eyes. She stood in the kitchen with one of their butcher knives and had a killer look in her eye, which directed to the zombie that he had just taken down. _Maybe she isn't so weak after all._ He thought to himself. He nodded once to her, then turned around and kept on with his watch.

 _Two days but feels like longer._ Armageddon thinks to herself as she watches the sky turn dark. If she had a diary she wouldn't have anything to say in it that wouldn't sound like bitching. But, after all that has happened, Armageddon feels like she has all the right to bitch. She had tried to get out of the house earlier that day, and find some place with a cellphone signal but Merle had stopped her before she got ten feet from the house.

"Where do you think you're going, blondie?" He asked when he noticed her. Armageddon cursed and turned around to meet his eyes. She had thought she'd been silent as a fox. Apparently not. Merle had been tracking a squirrel while killing time on his watch when he noticed the blonde sneak through the bushes.

"Gonna find a cellphone signal" She had answered shortly and shrugged. He raised his brows and looked down to the cellphone clutched in her hand.

"Not on my watch" He told her and sent her unwillingly back to the house. He had made Mac keep an eye on her and then gone back outside to continue his watch. Mac kept her on a tight leash, tighter than she would have wanted, and even strained her until she was ready to fight back, but before she could do anything, Merle's watch finished and Mac's started.

Mac and Merle treated Armageddon like she was their live-in free maid that they could do anything to if they pleased. Daryl silently watched and took no part in his brothers actions. Armageddon did not blame him for it, she had long stopped doing that, learning there was nothing to say or do to get him on her side or try to get him to talk his brothers out of stopping. She knew this out of experience, years ago.

The sun was setting, the sky was an extraordinary orange color that looked like a painting. Far away in the distance were dark clouds approaching, quick like storm clouds. Armageddon felt a shiver run down her spine and thought for a second that a storm was approaching. She drifted off and quickly fell asleep in the windowsill.

She was woken up hours later, when the sky was still dark, by Daryl. "Wake up!"

Her eyes fluttered open and she stared wide-eyed at the man in front of her. "What?" She croaked out and buried her face in her hands to drown out the growling noises. _Growling noises!?_

"Get up!" He grabbed her by the arm and helped her stand up. Her feet were numb but she dismissed it and told herself to just walk it off. She looked out the window that she had cuddled up to less than a minute ago and met a sight that was not so great for her sore eyes. Dead people, dozens and dozens of them. They staggered to the house where Mac and Merle fought them off, but the zombies were just too many for only two men to keep away.

Daryl dragged her outside and to a red pick-up truck that was parked nearby. He was about to jump in when four zombies emerged from behind the truck and approached him. He pushed Armageddon away and started fighting them off. Armageddon, who was more than just freaked out, gathered her wits and hastily looked around for a weapon to hold the dead ones off. She grabbed a crowbar, that was lying on the ground near the truck, and started bashing the zombies brains in.

Hours must have passed until the last dead one dropped dead. The sun was slowly crawling up the sky when Armageddon leaned against the house and heaved, trying to catch her breath after that exhausting killing-spree. "Fuck" She mumbled breathlessly. She blinked lazily and met the brothers eyes. Mac quickly approached her and took the crowbar, practically snatching it away. Armageddon took that as her time to go back inside, leaving the three brothers alone outside. She plopped herself on the couch and was quick to fall back asleep.

Armageddon woke up later that day, after a great nights sleep. The events of last night felt more like a dream than reality, but, after looking down and seeing all the blood on her clothes she was reassured. The Dixon brothers did not bother her, actually acted like she wasn't even there with them, which was pretty great for Armageddon who had no want to cook or clean for them.

Her head snapped up when Daryl sat down beside her on the couch and turned on the TV. He paid no attention to the blonde who stared at him, and then turned her attention to the TV. He flipped through the channels. Nothing for four channels straight, but the fifth had some life. It was a middle aged man with a boring voice, advising people to stay inside until the military gets everything sorted out.

"The military?" Daryl snorted. "The military can't do shit."

Armageddon ignored him and nursed the small flickering hope that everything could get better. But, a low voice inside her head, narrated by Morgan Freeman told her differently. _Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane._ She remembered this line from the famous and critically acclaimed movie The Shawshank Redemption. Armageddon remembered watching this movie a couple of times with Con and Murph who liked it just as much as her. It was almost always like that when it came to movies. If Armageddon liked a movie then it was sure as hell her two best friends and loves of her lives, Con and Murph, would like it just as much. And vice versa.

Daryl started flipping through channels again, but nothing was as good as the last one. He did come across a few channels that were still working, but they all said the same thing. Stay inside. The military is working as hard as it can and as fast as it can. Hit the dead ones in the head or they'll just keep on coming back. Stuff like that.

The day didn't get more interesting as that, at least not for Armageddon, whose only purpose with the Dixon brothers was to sit around and be quiet. _Hurry up, military._


	3. Live Free or Die

Live Free or Die

Armageddon was awoken at dawn by a hard slap across the cheek. Her eyes snapped open and she hastily sat up, only to meet Mac's eyes.

"What the fuck?" She snapped and rubbed her aching cheek.

"Get a move on, bitch, you're coming with me" He told her and left the house. Armageddon knew she had no choice but to follow him, even though that was the last thing she'd ever want to do. She staggered out of the house and squinted when the sun shone right in her eyes. She groaned and looked around, trying to get her eyes adjusted to the bright sun whilst looking for Mac. She found him in the red pick-up truck that she'd seen the night before, when the dead ones barged in.

"Get the fuck in, we don't have all fuckin' day!" Mac called from the car. Armageddon obeyed silently and wished that one day he'd become nicer and more tolerable, even though that was never going to happen. Not in a million years.

"Where are we going?" Armageddon asked after they had pulled out of the driveway and driven for five silent minutes. He glanced at her and then back at the road. That was as much as he bothered as an answer. She sighed and looked out the window. The roads were surprisingly empty, given the fact that it was only day four of the apocalypse. Maybe it has been longer and Armageddon just didn't notice it until that horrible day at the street. She had been hearing some strange and gruesome stories on the news a couple of days before. _Thank you, careless brain._ She told herself.

They arrived their destination ten minutes later. It was a store, and a big one for that matter.

"Get out" He commanded. Mac, himself, was quick to jump out of the car the second he killed it. "We're going shopping." Armageddon jumped out and followed him silently inside, having no other option anyway.

Inside was dark and grimy. Stuff and things were tossed around and were scattered all over the floor. _Mental note: Watch your step._ Armageddon tells herself and chuckles. Mac grabs a cart and disappears into one of the aisles. "Why am I even here if he's going to do everything here himself?" Armageddon mumbles quietly and takes a look around.

She stops by a certain shelf and lets her mind roam to the days when everything was normal, not more than four days ago. _Feels longer, though._ She grabs the movie closest to her and smiles. " _Yippe kay yay, motherfucker_ " Armageddon mumbles and chuckles, putting _Live Free or Die Hard_ back on the shelf. She stares at the movies in front of her and can't help think to the movie collection she has with Con and Murph at home. _If they knew good movies like these were just ignored, I'm pretty sure they'd help me carry the box filled with them home._ If there still is a home. A shuffle sounds off and Armageddon quickly turns around. A dead one stumbles on her, making her fall down to the ground with the zombie on top of her. She bites down to not scream as she struggles to get it off her. She's not going to get Mac to help her. She'd rather die than having him gloat on how helpless she is. Armageddon pushes the dead one off her and goes on top of it, turning the tables. She starts smashing its head to the ground and doesn't stop until it's nothing but a bloody pulp.

Armageddon stands up and huffs as she stares down at it. "Fucker" She mumbles and walks away, thinking she's going to need some supplies. That was why Mac dragged her with him, wasn't it?

Speaking of Mac. He approaches her from the shadows and grabs her. She struggles in his grip and he laughs. "Go on, scream. No one's gonna help you" He tells her. One of his hands travel down her body and she knows what he's doing. Armageddon squirms and jumps in his hold, trying to free herself. She finally, inadvertently, bangs her head on his, making him back a few steps, trip on a fallen item and let her go. She takes it as her chance and flees to the farthest aisle, thinking that if she was going to make it through this supply-run then she'd have to have as much distance between her and Mac as she could.

She pushes things in her way away from her, making her way to a secluded aisle that appeared to have been very famous for the last-minute shoppers. She grabs a couple of desirable boxes nearby, like cookies and candy bars that she knows will come in handy sooner than later, and finally comes to a stop when she acknowledges a sign above her. _Pharmacy._ She fiddles with an oreo box as she checks it out when she hears a familiar grunt behind her. Mac pushes past her, like she was just another object, and starts rummaging for the prescription pills. Armageddon bends down and grabs a box of Paratabs. _This is certainly going to help me,_ she thinks to herself and put it in my pocket.

She turns around and is about to head off when she hears Mac grunt. Armageddon cranes her neck and sees Mac struggle with two dead ones and a third one approaching him from behind. She wonders for a second if she should help him and tries to make up her mind. If she would help him, her debt would be paid and she'd have nothing to explain to the other two Dixon brothers at home. If she didn't however, if she let him die, she could run away from here and go find her two husbands. Then, there's always the chance that Mac notices the third dead one and kills them all and then punishes her for not doing anything.

Armageddon turns fully around and is about to help him when someone grabs her from behind. She struggles in the grip and tries to kick the person from behind but has no luck in harming the person well enough to be let go.

"Easy, girl" A guy with a quiet voice says and grips her even tighter. Mac destroys the three dead ones like it's the easiest thing and doesn't even notice the crowd around him.

"Well done, Mac" The guy holding me says and sounds thrilled. Mac's head snaps up and meets his eyes.

"The fuck do you want?" He growls and raises his knife again.

"This your girl?" The guy asks and starts feeling me up.

"Yeah, that's my bitch" Mac answers and nods. _That's enough!_ Armageddon squashes the guy's toes with her heel and snaps her head back vigorously, making him snap back and let go of her. The sound of multiple guns being drawn up, the sound she knew so well from all of the action movies that she's seen, fills her ears. She looks around and sees everyone pointing their guns at them. But, Mac is not in the mood for negotiations. He draws up his own gun and shoots everyone in sight without a second thought.

Armageddon blinks as she feels her hearing come back. The sight of dead bodies, not rotten or of zombies, but of real people sends a terrible shiver down her back. Zombies were a shock in itself, but to see people that she knew were living and breathing, suddenly on the ground and would never move again, was a whole other thing that made her freeze and her world turn upside down.

"The fuck's the matter with you? Get a move on" Mac grunted and pushed her back, making her stumble backwards a few steps and erupt her gaze on the dead bodies. She looked at him, still frozen and still gaping.

"I-I've never seen a dead person before" She mumbled quietly and looked from his merciless eyes and to the bodies in front of them.

Mac approached her and didn't stop until they were almost body-to-body staring deeply into her eyes. "It was either them or us" He told her quietly, his voice cold and did not have a hint of remorse. "You should be relieved."

Armageddon pursed her lips and took a step back from him, before disrupting the eye contact and continuing her search for useful things inside the supermarket. They spent another hour inside the supermarket, completely picking it clean before they headed back to the Dixon house. They didn't speak at all the whole way back, but she knew they were both thinking about the encounter they had in there. It loomed over them like a ghost and as much as she tried, Armageddon couldn't get the image of a head almost completely shot off of the man who had held her in his grips moments before or the scattered bodies of his buddies.

She desperately hoped she wouldn't have to witness something like that ever again as the sight of seeing the life fade out of another person's eyes was the most horrible thing she had ever experienced.


	4. The Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness

 _Armageddon laughed as the twins made total asses of themselves. They didn't even have to try this hard to make her laugh, when Armageddon was with them she could laugh at anything. She could look at a sponge and almost stop breathing from laughing so hard, that was just the kind of person she was with them. A very happy one._

But now, what was she? When she thought about all that, she felt like another person, someone far from being that happy girl that lived a happy, perfect life. Now, she was a hostile person that snapped every time someone spoke to her. Not that many people did. The only ones who did were the Dixon brothers, and most of the time they had it coming.

 _Armageddon often wondered why they had moved from Ireland. They met there, they had all their special moments there, so why move to Boston? One reason: to make new memories... and because she got a scholarship in one of the colleges there._ Well, it wasn't too bad there, _she thought to herself, Con, Murph and her_ did _often think about going to the States, so why not just move there?_

"Why didn't we just stay in Ireland?" Armageddon mumbled to herself and rubbed her temples. She was sitting outside, enjoying being as far away from the Dixon brothers as she was allowed. She laughed at herself bitterly. Listen to yourself! 'As far as they allow me to'. You're a fucking joke. Her hands turned into fists and she dug her nails into the palms of her hands in fury. It wasn't the fact that she was being treated like this that really pissed her off, it was the fact that she actually let them. That she became this little submissive bitch they had wrapped around their fingers.

"Fuck them" She mumbled and hugged her knees to her chest. "Fuck them!" That was the best way she could stand up for herself. Or that's what she thought. To curse them under her breath. Again, she laughed at herself bitterly. But now, worse thoughts invaded her mind. Why don't you just go kill yourself? Admit it, you know that you'll be better off. She fiddled with a pocket knife she found some time ago and wondered what technique she should use.

Right before she put the knife to her wrists, she realized something. By killing herself she'd be letting them win. And she'd also be failing Con and Murph, the men she had vowed to find and reunite with. So, Armageddon dropped the pocket knife and closed her eyes, trying her best to focus on a good memory of her two husbands.

 _"I love you, beautiful" Murph told her and kissed her on the cheek. Armageddon smiled brightly and met Con's eyes. He kissed her on the lips and said nothing, his kiss said everything._  
 _"I love you guys" She told them sincerely._

She drew a sharp breath fought back the tears. I'm never going to see them again, that thought echoed in her ears and it made her feel even worse. She pursed her lips and clasped her eyes shut. Stop acting like this! She commanded. Stop before someone sees you like this. The thought of one of the Dixon brothers finding her like this was enough motivation for her to stop and poker face through this. Though, when she opened her eyes she saw she was still alone. Get used to it, a bitter voice said in her mind, you'll be facing moments like this more times than you can count.


	5. Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

 _Some serious shit is happening and I'm here, washing the fucking dishes!_ She scoffed at her submissiveness. _Am I just going to follow their rules and be their bitch forever?_ It had been two or three weeks since the apocalypse hit and she was there washing their dishes like a motherfucking housewife! This was not her plan, this was never her plan. The second all of this started, her mind was set on Con and Murph. Step number one: find them. Step number two: survive this with them. Her plan didn't get any easier than that, but then came complications right before she could even do step one.

"These fucking Dixon brothers!" She exclaimed, yet watch out on being too loud. She stopped, huffed and looked around the dirty kitchen. The dishes were the least of this kitchen's problem. The least of her fucking problem. She eyed the back door and a solution popped into her head. She had tried to 'escape' various times and they always brought her back. _Why did they even bother?_ She asked herself and furrowed her brows. She looked out the window, checking if Merle or Daryl or Mac, she had no fucking idea who was on watch right now, was anywhere close. There was nothing in sight and she took that as her chance. She snuck out the door before anyone could notice she had stopped washing the dishes.

She ran away from the Dixon house, armed with only a butcher knife that she grabbed before she got the hell out of there. The wind in her hair and the glorious feeling of being out of the shackles liberated her. _Now, I only have to-_

"Armageddon?" Her name being called out snapped her out of her thoughts. She was not really sure if she should stop or just ignore it. A part of her wanted to really badly and check who was calling. But, the other part already knew and _didn't_ want to face that person. She went with the second part and kept going like nothing happened. She gripped the butcher knife even harder as she heard footsteps approach her from behind.

She whirled around when he was close enough and was about to charge when he grabbed her knife and had a mocking smile on his face.

"Where do you think you're going, sweetheart?" Merle asked. She didn't answer him, instead, she tried to free herself. "What are you doing so deep in the woods?" The way he said those nine words only made him sound like the Big Bad Wolf in Red Riding Hood.

"Are you running away?" He asked and grinned. She tried to free herself, tried anything to back away from him but he just would not let her.

"No, no, no. You're not going anywhere" He told her and tightened his hold on her. "Gimme that knife." He ripped it from her before she could even get the chance to respond.

"I can go wherever the fuck I want!" She hissed and tried to free herself once more. No luck. He laughed in her face and licked his lips lasciviously .

"Sure you can, honey" He said and started dragging her back. He glanced behind his shoulder from time to time as they walked back, checking if any zombies were in sight. There were none.

"'s been quiet today" Armageddon heard Mac say as they approached the house. She was guessing he was talking to Daryl.

"Look who I found!" Merle cried out when they emerged from the woods and to the open area where the Dixon house presented itself. The other two Dixon brothers looked behind their shoulders and met her eyes. She would have been embarrassed, but then again, why would she be? _Because you couldn't get far before getting caught_ , a bitter voice said in her head. She felt like she had just gotten arrested after resisting and fleeing from the police, an act she had seen a million times on TV.

"Where'd she go now?" Mac asked and cocked his head a little as he checked her out.

"Not far" Merle answered, still gripping her forearm.

"You're not going anywhere" Mac told her and showed his teeth. Armageddon raised her brows and did not look the least bit timid.

"That's what I told her" Merle commented.

"You finished doing the dishes?" Mac taunted her. She was about to go back in the house when he continued. "'Cause we got plenty of laundry for you." That was it, that was the last straw for her. She punched him as hard as she could in the face, snapping him back. He backed a couple of steps before trying to launch at her but was stopped by Daryl and Merle. "You fucking bitch!" He yelled and struggled in their hold. Served him right. She walked past him and was about to make her way to the house when he yelled.

"You better watch your pretty little ass!"

Then, he grabbed Merle's crossbow, since his watch started, and he went to the woods. Armageddon went inside with nothing stopping her except an ever growing voice in her head nagging her what she could do now. Just sit around, was the answer. There was nothing else to do. Merle and Daryl did not talk to her, there was nothing to say anyway, so the house got really quiet. Her mind wandered to what Mac said but she dismissed it, thinking that he would either cool down or he would do something to her when he got back. There was nothing she could do to stop him. So, she thought about what she would be doing if she hadn't gotten caught by Merle. She would probably be near the highway, slowly making her way to Boston. It would take hard work, a lot of sleepless nights, barely any food or water and more than a couple of weeks to get her there, but she believed she could get there. She had to. There was no other way. _Well, I could steal a car_ , She thought to herself and watched the sun set. _That wouldn't be too hard, gas would be the real problem_. She hugged her knees to her chest and felt herself grow tired. Not tired as to go to sleep, more tired as in tired of life. If Con and Murph were not on her mind then she would go and find a good, quick way to die and leave this world and those problems. _If only life is that easy_. That was the last thought that crossed her mind before she fell asleep in that windowsill.

"Bitch, wake up!"

Armageddon was pushed back harshly. She opened her eyes and met Mac's crotch. She blinked lazily before looking up to meet his eyes. He had a sly smirk on his face. The darkness around them told her that it was way past midnight. She didn't say anything, just waited for him to make his move.

"You're gonna get your punishment" He told her and pulled his dick out of his pants. "By sucking my cock."

It took all of her not to laugh in his face, but she couldn't help a scoff that escaped her throat. He slapped her hard across the cheek, shutting her up. Then, he grabbed her by her hair and pulled me closer to his crotch.

"Suck" He commanded, his voice more like a growl.

"I won't do that" She told him and shook her head.

"Suck." He only pulled her, in spite of her resisting.

"I'll bite it off" She told him.

"You'll suck," He started and pulled out his knife. "Or I'll kill you." He brought the knife to her throat and she goes through the situation in her mind, evaluating every possibility of what could come out of this.

"No, I'll bite your dick off and then you'll kill me" She told him in a matter of fact tone and grinned as she saw how he believed her. _I'm becoming suicidal. Maybe that's not a bad thing_ , She thought to herself. _I'm more liable like that than I am otherwise_. Mac was about to say, or do, something but was cut off by Daryl.

"Mac!" He called out. Mac's head snapped in that direction. "Can you come here?"

"This ain't over, little bitch" Mac warned and let go of her before exiting the dark living room. Armageddon got herself comfortable and told herself that there was no use in dwelling on that incident, so she closed her eyes and fell asleep once more.


	6. Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise

Armageddon stirred awake by the sun. It was slowly crawling up the sky, and even though it was still so early, shone right in her eyes. Armageddon groaned quietly and turned her head to the other side. Her neck ached by sleeping like this, matter of fact her whole body ached by sleeping like this. It was, what, day eleven? Day twelve? Armageddon didn't really know and she didn't really care. All the days felt like one _really_ long month that might as well be a year. She took a deep breath and looked around. Her muscles ached so much. Armageddon closed her eyes and took another deep breath, hoping that if she did that then maybe, just maybe, the pain would go away. Now, that she was thinking about it, if she did this for a long enough time would everything go away? Would the next time she opened her eyes be at her house in Massachusetts with her two husbands and not in the Dixon house in Georgia in the middle of the fucking zombie apocalypse?

No. The next time Armageddon opened her eyes everything was the same. Everything except a dead one staggering out of the woods and towards the house. She watched it move, watched it slowly limp in the direction of the Dixon residence. It growled, or at least made the face like it was growling, Armageddon couldn't hear it because she was inside. _In a minute this zombie will be dead on the ground and I'll face the first Dixon of the day._

But no one came. The minutes passed and not a single person outside came in sight. She was beginning to think that they were all asleep and judging by the snores in the other rooms, it was very likely. _So, what should I do?_ She asked herself and eyed the zombie. _Just get rid of it._ That was the obvious answer.

She stood up, tiptoed into the kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife and sneaked out of the house.

There didn't come another zombie when Armageddon killed the first one, even though she waited for it for two minutes. But, then she turned on her heel and went back to the house. There, Daryl stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and watching her.

"That was a nice one" Daryl said when she was about to enter the house.

"Yeah, real handsome around the eyes" She joked and chuckled. Humor was really needed in this world, but no one seemed to appreciate it in this household.

He chuckled. "No, I meant the kill."

That caught her by surprise. "Oh, thanks" She said, sounding rather awkward since she had never been complimented here.

"If I can ask," He started again when she was about to enter the house, again. She nodded and stood in front of him, stopped in her steps. "Why are you going inside?"

"Why shouldn't I?" She asked and arched a brow.

"No reason" He answers quickly. "I just thought you'd want to go back home."

Armageddon stared him a little confused and a little accusing. "The fuck's that supposed to mean?" She growled and cocked her head to the side.

"I'm the only one up" He said. "Here's your chance. You can go, leave and never come back and they wouldn't even notice you'd be gone until it would be too late."

She was about to turn around and do just that, but then, her common sense kicked in. "Why are you telling me all this?" She asked. "And how can I be so sure that you're not just saying that to your own amusement?"

Daryl threw his hands up in the air in defeat. "Fine," He said and backed away so she could go inside. "Stay, I don't care."

Now, she wasn't so sure. Was he telling the truth? Was he not? Armageddon didn't know and she certainly didn't know if she could trust him. _He is a Dixon after all, their brother,_ she thought to herself, _but he's also the nice one. The one who just might get to go to heaven._ She knew she had a good point but that was not enough to let her believe him. "Why are you telling me all this?" She asked again.

He raised his brows and shrugged. "Thought you wanted to know." She looked behind her shoulder and eyed the way she would take if she'd leave. _It's so tempting,_ she thought to herself and pursed her lips. _Maybe I should trust him._ She met his eyes again and they shared contact. She, mentally asking herself if she should trust him, and he, hoping that she does, so at least someone can have a decent future in this shit-hole of a world. This was something that Armageddon did _not_ excel in. When it came to decisions, she was the worst, because she could never make one. She always got so jittery and nervous. Take her lifestyle for example; no one is married to two people at the same time. No one but her. A picture of Con and Murph came into her head and then all of a sudden everything else disappeared. She remembered the promise she had made herself, made to them, to make get into contact and finding them, but she always got held back. _Now, Daryl is offering me a way out and I'm hesitating?_ She scolded herself for being such a sissy and was about to turn around when a voice behind Daryl said;

"What are you love birds talking about?" It was Merle. _You. Fucking. Idiot._


	7. Braveheart

Braveheart

Mac slapped Armageddon _hard_ on the ass as she walked past him. "OW!" She cried out and whirled around. "What the fuck?"

Mac shrugged and smirked. "Wanted to know how tight that sweet li'l ass really was" He said and stood up. He was about to put his hands on her when she bitch-slapped him. He didn't even seem to be hurt by it, even though she used all her strength. He grabbed her by the wrists and pushed her against the nearest wall. He growled and their eyes locked contact. She could see that rapist glare in his eye and he could see how she tried to shadow the fear that sparkled in her eyes with courage. Merle laughed in the background and cheered Mac on. But Mac didn't listen. It was just the two of them in this world right now. He planned on staring her off until that courage flickered and he would smell her fear, then he'd take her. He'd get more off by that.

Armageddon held her face and stared right back at him. She knew exactly what he was doing and she wasn't going to give in. She wasn't afraid of him. There were a dozen people around, so if she would scream, someone would hear her. Also, she knew if she would scream, she would attract walkers, which would make him stop for obvious reasons. She watched out on keeping her breathing rhythmic because she knew he would notice otherwise.

After a while, it could have been one minute and it could have been five - Armageddon had no idea which - when Mac finally got sick of this stare off and let go of her wrists. He backed away from her enough to give her space to move away from him and race out the door before he would change his mind. She had not been expecting that, she had actually been expecting him to put his hands on her and force himself on her, so she was really shocked when he didn't and let her go instead.

"Don't go too far!" Merle called out behind her as she ran outside. Armageddon didn't listen and went to the woods, but stopped quickly and hid behind the nearest tree. She sat down with her back against it and buried her face in her hands, her heart beating so fast and hard in her chest that it actually hurt. She had manged to bury the anxiety back then, but now, as she was alone and gathered her wits, a wave of emotions washed over her. She breathed heavily and told herself she didn't feel her hands get wet by the tears she shed. She fought the first few sobs, then she gave up and just did her best to be as quiet as she could.

She lived in constant fear. She was afraid of the dead that roamed the earth, she was afraid of the men she was stuck with - especially Mac - and she was afraid for her two husbands, who she hadn't had any contact with since before all of this began. She was afraid of getting eaten alive and turned into one of them; she was afraid of getting beaten and raped, but most of all she was terrified of seeing zombiefied Con and Murph. That was by far, her biggest fear and she had nightmares about it almost every night.

Her fear shouldn't have been of the Dixon brothers or seeing her husbands dead, her real fear should have been the night after when Merle and Mac were flipping through TV channels, trying to find some good news, but found nothing but panic or channels that had been taken over by the military telling people to stay calm, stay inside and not come in contact with the 'diseased'. Armageddon stood in the doorway of the kitchen and silently watched with them, hoping that one channel would broadcast about cities that were still thriving and hoping that Boston would be one of those cities, but, when that came, it stayed true to the south and solely announced which cities were doing all right in nearby states like Florida, Alabama and South Carolina. She wasn't religious, but every time she listened at the announcements, she found herself praying to God to keep Con and Murph safe. She wasn't a child of God, but her husbands were so she hoped that would be enough to reach His ears.

She was snapped out of her dreamy stare at the TV, when Daryl barged in, huffing and locked the door behind him. "We gotta get outta here" He said out of breath.

"What you talkin' about?" Merle asked and furrowed his brows at his brother.

"They're coming. A lot of them."

"We can handle them" Merle said dismissively.

"Not this many" Daryl shook his head and met Armageddon's eyes. "Pack everything we can eat on the road in the kitchen."

She hated being told what to do, but as all eyes went on her, she decided to make herself useful and do so. She was too tired to be hostile and have attitude, she had been like that for several days in a row and it was taking a serious toll on her. She found a bag in a small pantry and packed all of the canned and jarred goods, as well as the leftovers of the game meat they had eaten the last few days.

"How many are they?" She heard Mac ask.

"Two dozen, probably more."

"Ain't the girl useful? She helped us the last time" Merle suggested.

"That was when there were only dozen and even then it was tough" Daryl objected. "We can't fight them, we gotta run."

"And go where, little brother?" Merle asked.

"The military has been offering shelter-"

"That shit's overrun and reeking with sick and old people" Mac cut him off.

"Not all of them" Daryl told him. "Heard on the news there were underground bunkers they were putting people in."

"I'mma check this shit out while you ladies chat" Merle said and Armageddon heard the front door open and close. Then, she heard footsteps approaching her.

"How's things going?" Daryl asked her.

She turned around and handed him the full bag of food. "That's it."

"Thank you" He said sincerely and met her eyes. They shared an intense contact and she felt she had so many questions she needed to ask, but he cut her off. "I'mma try to get them to Atlanta and towards the state limits to South Carolina and get you a car when the time's right so you can go find your men."

"You'd really do that?" She asked astounded and fought the urge to hug him in gratitude.

"Yeah" He answered and nodded. "Only reason we took you in was to make sure you'd be all right. You's family."

"Thank you, Daryl."

"What you talking about?" Mac said and entered the kitchen, severing their eye contact.

"She's just gatherin' the food and tellin' me what we have" Daryl answered quickly and turned to his brother.

"I think this is bullshit. We ain't gotta go anywhere."

Daryl was about to object once more when Merle came rushing in. "Pack your shit!" He exclaimed and ran straight into his bedroom.

"The fuck's going on?" Mac called out and left the kitchen. Daryl flashed Armageddon a look before leaving the kitchen as well. She watched him go and felt scared and restless as she had nothing to pack and little patience to wait for them to usher her wherever. "How many are they?"

"Too fucking many to count" Merle yelled. "We gotta go fucking now!"

They didn't take long to pack the necessities and get out. The dead were approaching and coming from all direction, but they were still not close enough to be afraid. Merle got on his motorcycle and Daryl, Armageddon and Mac filed into Mac's pickup and took off before the zombies reached them. They growled and scratched at the car, mindlessly trying to get to them, but of no luck. Their stench wriggled into the car and followed them, not fading even though they had driven for miles and there were no more walkers in sight.

It was a relief to finally get out of that house, but at the same time it was uncomfortable to be out in the open with no permanent residency anymore. Armageddon hoped, as she stared out of the window and met the eyes of a child in a car driving beside them, that everything would go according to Daryl's plan and that soon she would be on her own on the way to Massachusetts.


	8. Misery

_**Misery**_

They were a couple of miles away from Atlanta when they came to a stop. Cars that were broken down and abandoned were scattered around the highway. They, of course, stopped to loot and found two tents – which meant they now had four, one for each person – Armageddon stole some clothes and rummaged for a cellphone that had service and enough battery to make a call, but found none. She also found the novel _Misery_ by Stephen King and was quick to take it and stuff it inside her, knowing that it would come in handy, especially if they would continue driving on.

"I don't know about Atlanta, man" Merle said to Mac and captured Armageddon's attention immediately. She stood nearby and focused on something else so that not to make it obvious she was listening in. "Radio's goin' crazy about it and I've heard people coming from there that's sayin' stay away."

"You're paranoid" Mac said shortly and waved him off.

"What if it's overrun of the dead?" Merle asked him. "I don't wanna die so soon. I got pussy to fuck and crystal to smoke."

There was a pause and just when Armageddon thought Mac had dropped the conversation, he spoke up once more. "We'll wait one more day and get more news about the city and then decide."

After that decided Armageddon to rush off and gather information for herself as she was not intent on running blindly into the heart of darkness. She wasn't looking around, though, and stumbled into another person that was walking from the opposite direction. "Oh, I'm so sorry" He immediately said. Armageddon looked up and saw it was a young man, with olive skin and almond shaped eyes. He was Asian, Korean, Armageddon guessed, dressed in casual jeans and had a cap on.

"Sorry" Armageddon mumbled and flashed him an apologetic look.

"It's a real _Shaun of the Dead_ out there, isn't it?" He said, stopping her as she was about to walk off. She would have ignored him, but hearing mentioned a movie caught her attention and made her want to stick around and have a conversation about something she genuinely enjoyed, something she hadn't done for what felt like a long time.

"I wish, if so we'd be sipping beers and entertained by wisecrackers like Simon Pegg and Bill Nighy" She commented and chuckled at the idea.

"Yeah, I guess you're right" He said and chuckled with her. "Then we're more like _Night of the Living Dead_."

"Yup, an average B-movie come to life."

Glenn laughed. "Would have been better to be Forest Gump" He commented and scratched the back of his head. "Y'know, meeting all those presidents, traveling around the world and just being weird."

"In a perfect world" Armageddon and sighed.

"My name's Glenn" He said.

"Call me Armageddon" She said and shook his hand.

"Armageddon?" He repeated and chuckled nervously, as if he wasn't sure if she were joking or not.

"I'm Icelandic and my name translates into Armageddon" She explained and shrugged.

"Oh, nice to meet you."

"Likewise" She said and shook his hand once more. "Are you coming or going to Atlanta?"

"I just came from there" He told her. "Some parts of the city have gone berserk and have been closed off and people are afraid that we might have to close down the city altogether."

"It's that bad?" She asked and raised her brows, not liking the sound of that.

"Yeah" He nodded. "Why? Were you gonna see if there were any vacancies?"

"No, actually, I needed to drive through the city. It's the shortest route out of the state from here."

"Oh, where are you going?"

"Boston."

"Wow, that's a long way from here" He commented. "What's in Boston, if I may ask?"

"My husband" She answered him. She refrained on telling casual strangers that she was in a polyamorous relationship as she and her husbands had had to endure enough prejudice and judgment.

"Oh, I'm sorry" He said and frowned.

"Why are you sorry?" She asked and furrowed her brows.

"Because I know what it's like. My parents are in Florida and it's been hard keeping faith after the cellphone reception dies" He confessed and pursed his lips. Armageddon nodded, though she had not had any contact with Con nor Murph since before her conference as her phone died during the conference and the Dixons were so primitive that they didn't have a cellphone charger.

"Yeah" She nodded and felt sadness as her mind wandered to her husbands. She had no idea how they were doing or what they were doing, if they were on their way to her or knowing if she was on her way to them.

"But, hey, if by some chance you decide to stay, me and a couple of others are thinking about heading West from here and make a camp, away from the roads and the… geeks."

"You call them geeks?" She chuckled.

"Yeah, what do you call them?" He asked and chuckled dryly.

"I don't know; the dead?" She answered and shrugged. "Giving them a nickname like that is smart, though, and if you don't mind I'mma start using it."

"Be my guest. Actually, I started using this because I heard someone else say it about them."

She chuckled. "Thanks for the offer" She said sincerely. "It's nice to have that option if we end up staying for a while."

"We?" He repeated and raised his brows.

"Yeah, I'm stuck here with a few people" She nodded.

Their conversation was cut short when she heard her name being called out and saw Merle and Mac giving her and Glenn looks and glares. "I'll see you around" She told Glenn before turning around. "What?" She asked when she reached the Dixon brothers.

"The fuck are you doing?" Mac asked her immediately and practically spat his words.

"What are you, my dad?" She retorted.

He scoffed and was about to say something when Merle spoke up. "You plannin' on splittin' ways with us, sweetheart?" He asked. "You've found a new man already?"

"I was just having an innocent conversation" She argued and was surprised on how they had interpreted her chatting with another person, just because it had been a guy. "And I don't know about you, but I'm taking the next available car and going straight to Massachusetts the second I can."

"Uh-uh, that's not happening" Merle said and laughed in her face. "We saved your life, now you owe us yours. You know the rules."

She arched her brows at them and scoffed. "I don't owe you a goddamn thing" She told him. "And if you are so fixated on 'saving' me that day in Atlanta then bear in mind you shouldn't have and let me fend for myself."

"What kind of brothers-in-law would we be if we'd have done that?"

She was about to argue for the hundredth time that they weren't related to her husband and that she would rather have been on her own than 'saved' when a man chipped in. "Is there a problem here?" He asked and diverted the trios attention.

"Mind your own business" Mac said and stared him off.

"Ma'am, I'm a police officer, are these men bothering you?" He said and directed his words to Armageddon, who was just as unhappy with this man interfering as Mac and Merle were.

"No" She answered and shook her head.

He stared at her for a few moments as if he were waiting for her to change her answer and when she didn't, he spoke up once more. She could feel Mac and Merle's shocked stares on her as well. The reason why she had said no to that tall, bulky man with the big brown eyes was because she had not wanted to cause a scene or make it look like she was a damsel in distress. She just wanted to find a way out of Georgia and get back to her husbands and she wasn't going to complicate that with drama that she was used to dealing with the Dixon brothers on her own. "It's getting dark soon and I don't think it's safe to stay on the roads. There's a camp a few miles West from here that I and some other people have set up and you are welcome to stay there for the night instead of here."

"We'll take our chances" Merle told him and Armageddon could see how his pride had made that decision for him. Honestly, she wouldn't have minded taking a look at that camp if she wouldn't be able to find a car soon.

"Okay" The police officer said and shrugged, not caring at all. Then his brown eyes met Armageddon's eyes once more. "There's lots of space if you change your minds."

He glanced at Mac and Merle before leaving them and shortly after that, Daryl joined. "You heard about the camp a couple of miles from here?" He asked his older brothers.

"Yeah, some dickwad pig told us about it" Merle answered.

"Sounds like just another graveyard" Mac chimed in.

"I took a look at it and it seems pretty good" He commented. "There are lookouts, food and it's less likely the dead will come find them than here on the-"

By the way Daryl talked, it really seemed like he wanted to check that camp out, just like Armageddon, but his two brothers were on different matters. "Why are you so hell-bent on that homo gathering'?" Mac asked him, interrupting as he talked.

"Atlanta's fucked" Daryl answered and pursed his lips.

"How do you know?"

"I went as close as I could to it and it was surrounded by the dead" He answered. "And there are more headed this way."

"More than can be fought off or avoided?" Armageddon asked him, making him look from his brothers and to her.

He nodded, while Merle called her stupid for not have realized that by what his younger brother had just said. "Look, all roads are blocked by people or are gonna be blocked by the dead. Let's try that camp for a few days, wait until the roads get better and then continue."

Armageddon was about to walk off in search of a vehicle that she could hijack, when Mac stopped her by grabbing her arm harshly and making her stay in place. "Didn't you hear?" He said and her eyes met the cold, icy blue eyes of his. "We're going to that camp."

Tired of fighting and struggling, she gave in and willingly followed them into Mac's pickup, leaving the interstate and heading towards that promised camp.


	9. The Battered Bed

_**The Battered Bed**_

Armageddon sat on the ground, far enough away that she wasn't near anyone in particular, but not far away to be out of the camp. She was on the outskirts on the other end, keeping as much distant between her and the two older Dixons, as they had been giving her hell the last couple of days. She wanted to be alone and in peace. She held a thick branch that she had found earlier and planned on making it into a spear by carving it. She had nothing better to do, except maybe read, but she had gotten sick of that after reading for three days straight. She felt of little use to the group and restless as she was never the type to sit around and do nothing.

She had been in the midst of a daydream of her two husbands when she was snapped into reality by Carl, one of the children from the group. "Hey, what'chu doing?" He said and sat down beside her.

"Making a spear" She answered shortly before looking from what she was doing and into the young man's blue eyes.

"To use on the geeks?" He asked curiously and looked from the branch and to her, meeting her eyes before she continued.

"That was the plan, yeah" She answered and nodded. "Make it sharp and sturdy enough and then it can be reusable."

"That's really neat" He mumbled and silence swept over as Armageddon decided not to say anymore. She expected him to leave, leave her be like everyone else in the group did, but instead, he sat with her and watched her silently.

After a while, she decided that it wouldn't be so bad to bond with the boy. "Hey, you ever watch that show on _Cartoon Network_ about a muscular guy who was always chasing after women?" She asked him as she carved.

"Yeah, _Johnny Bravo_!" He exclaimed and smiled.

"That was one of my favorite shows when I was younger" She told him candidly.

"Really? You watched it too?"

"Of course" She nodded. "I did with my husbands at the time."

"How long have you been married?" He asked her curiously.

"Two years, but we've been together for ten years" She answered.

"So you knew each other when you were kids?"

"We met at thirteen, so yeah."

"Did you watch any other cartoons together?"

"Oh, lots" She said and listed up a couple of her favorites, some of which Carl had never heard of before and some of he had. They chatted for a while and seemed to be bonding when his mother, Lori, suddenly called out his name and seemed frantic. Armageddon looked behind her shoulder and was met by the glaring mother, who had never hid how dislike towards Armageddon.

"Carl, come over here, now!" She growled.

"I gotta go" Carl said and stood back up. "Good luck with your spear."

She watched him leave and could hear Lori telling him quietly that she didn't want him to be around her. She didn't really blame her, Armageddon was hostile, swore a lot and came with the Dixons, so it wouldn't have surprised her if some of the group members thought she was one of them. She had gotten to know some of them, like the Morales family, which she bonded with immediately through Spanish tongue, Dale, who was the owner of the sole RV, Glenn, a guy about her age that shared some of her nerdy opinions on Star Wars and Shane, who would stop by once in a while to make sure everyone was fine and keep Mac and Merle on their good behavior.

"Can-can I sit with you?" A hesitant voice spoke up behind her. Armageddon looked to where the voice was coming from and saw a girl, about eleven or twelve years old, with short, blonde hair and timid blue eyes.

"Sure, go right ahead" Armageddon said. "Your name's Sophia, right? You're from the tent nearby mine?"

"Yeah" She nodded.

"My name is Armageddon" She said and offered her hand to the girl. When she shook it, she flashed the girl a warm smile. "Nice to meet you."

"You too" She said quietly before looking down to what Armageddon was holding. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making a spear" She told the little girl. "I'm thinking of using it as a weapon on the geeks, since not everyone knows how to use a gun."

"Could-could you make one for me?" Sophia asked quietly and didn't dare look up from the ground. "I don't have anything and my mom doesn't want me around guns or knives."

"Of course" Armageddon said. "You can have this one when I'm finished. I still have a knife that I can use in the meantime."

"Thank you" Sophia said quietly and she glanced to Armageddon before looking back down to the ground. "Can I-I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"When is it normal to start your period?" She asked and her cheeks flushed bright red as soon as she said those words.

"About twelve or thirteen, I would say" Armageddon answered. "I was twelve when I first started."

Sophia frowned and a lone tear ran down her cheek. "I don't want to start my period" She said and her voice shook.

Armageddon put down the knife and half-branch, half-spear, before sliding closer to Sophia and putting her arm around the girl's shoulder. "It's nothing you should be afraid of," She told her sincerely. "Your mom has probably told you something about it, maybe even taught you how to use pads and tampons."

"I don't wanna talk about this with my mom" Sophia admitted quietly.

Armageddon pursed her lips before chuckling. "Yeah, I didn't want to either with my mom when I was your age" She told her. "If you feel better talking to me about this, then go right ahead. I can teach you whatever you want and make sure you're okay."

"Could you teach me how to take down a geek also?" Sophia asked and finally looked up and met Armageddon's eyes.

"Yeah" Armageddon said and smiled. "We'll take a day where you can learn how to take down geeks and defend yourself."

"What about defending myself with people?" She asked and a hope glistened in her eyes. As she said those words, Armageddon realized something that sent a shiver down her spine.

"People like your father?" She asked quietly. When Sophia severed the eye contact and looked embarrassed, Armageddon knew what she had suspected was right. _Her father is abusing her._ "If your father ever lays a hand on you or tries something and you get scared, I want you to call out my name. Scream it as loudly as you can and I'll come and protect you."

"My dad's bigger and stronger than you" Sophia muttered.

"He may be bigger, but he's not stronger" Armageddon reassured her. "I've been dealing with men like your father for a long time, I know how to make them back off."

"Like with those men who sometimes smoke with my father? The ones you came here with?" She asked.

"Yes, like those men, for example."

"You're not scared of them, are you?" She asked and looked up. "Even though they are mean to you."

"No, they don't scare me" Armageddon assured her. "Just like your dad won't scare me. Now, will you promise me that you'll call on me when your dad starts being scary to you?"

"Yeah, I promise" She nodded before looking behind her shoulder. "I'm gonna go play with Carl and the Morales kids."

"Go do that" Armageddon nodded before stopping her. "If there's anything, if you ever wanna talk or if you need anything, you can always come to me." When Sophia nodded and left, Armageddon wondered if she really could help that poor girl. When she learned what her father was doing to her, she went into full protective gear as she knew her mother would do little to help her. She had seen Carol with bruises on her face and body and now knew that those were made of her husband.

Speak of the devil, as she thought about all of this, she met Carol's eyes as she watched Sophia run to the kids before Carol approached her. "I don't know what my daughter said to you," She started and Armageddon frowned as she was afraid that Carol was going to tell her to stay away from her daughter, just like Lori did with her son. Carol and Lori were somewhat good friends, and it wouldn't have surprised her if Carol disliked her just like Lori did. "But, I want to say thank you."

Those words through her off, and she furrowed her brows in confusion before Carol continued. "Sophia's never really had many friends in her life and I would be really glad if you could be there for her when I'm not."

"It would be my pleasure" Armageddon told the older woman sincerely. "She wants me to teach her how to take down geeks and make her a weapon to use it on them, but I won't unless you allow it."

"Oh" Carol said and looked behind her shoulder to where her daughter was before looking back to Armageddon. "I don't think she's ready for that quite yet."

"Then, we'll wait with it" Armageddon promised. "She said something else," She said and stood up so that they were eye-to-eye and could speak in hushed voices. "About her dad…" She paused and when she saw Carol's face pale, she decided to go on. "I told her she could stay with me if her dad gets scary. I don't mean to pry, but I know some drunks can get violent and need space, so I'm ready to watch over her."

"You'd do that?" Carol asked and looked hopeful and relieved. "I don't want to burden you with-"

"Not a burden at all" Armageddon reassured her. "I know this is none of my business, but I want to help because I know what it's like… Being in a dysfunctional family."

"Thank you" Carol said and before Armageddon knew it, Carol was hugging her. "Now that we're on this 'big camping trip', Ed can get pretty fussy without his TV…"

"You don't have to make excuses for him" Armageddon told her and stopped her. "I get it, I really do. I'm stuck with two just like him."

Carol's lips twitched into a small smile and she nodded before looking down to her feet, obviously bashful about this conversation topic. "You know," Armageddon said and captured her attention. "This might not be much to you, but if he does anything, my offer is the same as to your daughter. You don't have to live with this, you don't have to take it. I can help you and I'm sure everyone else would help you too."

"I'm fine" Carol told her and Armageddon knew that despite what he had done to her and her daughter, she still loved him. "But thank you, I appreciate it." She looked over to her daughter once more and decided that was enough. "I should go" She said and met her eyes once more. "Thank you again."

"My pleasure" Armageddon told her sincerely and thought as she watched Carol go that maybe not everyone in that group disliked or feared her, like she had so thought earlier.


	10. Some Like it Hot

Some Like it Hot

Armageddon was lounging in Mac's pickup, a book in her hand - No Country for Old Men - and was reading when Ed, a guy that was in that horrid group that they were in came into her vision. Armageddon had found the book in one of the very many empty cars that she had passed a couple of days ago, and considered herself very lucky because she had been wanting very badly to read this book before the apocalypse hit. She had also seen the movie, once or twice, which was comfortable because then she had a reason to think back to Con and Murph who were probably dead by now, or thought that she was. She told herself, while her eyes read the words, that she couldn't think like that, she had to stay positive even though she knew she wouldn't be getting away any time soon. _Why the fuck not?_ She asked herself and flipped the page, even though she had not taken in the last two pages. She was just looking at the words while her brain was somewhere else than in Cormac McCarthy's story. She had asked herself this question millions of times and always told herself that the Dixon brothers would not let her leave, even though she had had more than a couple of times to actually follow up on her words. _One of these days I will-_ she thought to herself but was cut off when she heard Ed start talking. He was talking to Mac and Merle. Daryl was somewhere off. _Probably hunting,_ she thought to herself and watched them. They had broken her concentration but, for a valid reason, as she kept on listening.

"That's a nice girl you have there" Ed said and pointed to her. Armageddon glared at him and then the two brothers whose eyes followed.

"Yeah, she is" Merle said and flashed her a smirk. "Feisty, too."

"Which one of you is fucking her?" He asked them.

"The fuck's it to you?" Mac asked and arched his brows.

"Why don't we switch, you get my bitch and I get yours" He answered. "For one night."

"That's not up to them" Armageddon called out, putting the book down and hopping out of the truck. They barely glanced at her.

"Your bitch ain't worth shit" Mac said and glanced at Ed's tent, not far away from their campsite.

"Yeah, especially compared to ours" Merle said. "What else you got?"

"Are you seriously bidding me?" She asked and approached them.

"Shut up" Merle said and pushed her back.

"Fuck you" She said and pushed him right back. Now she was standing between the two Dixon brothers and that asshole named Ed. "And you, fuckhead, you couldn't get me even if you paid a million fucking dollars. So, why don't you fuck off and go screw that daughter of yours or something, since you're so bored."

"You better watch your fucking mouth" He said and stepped closer. He smelled disgusting. Either Mac or Merle grabbed her shoulder and made her back into their embrace.

"Why don't you go make yourself useful" Mac said and pushed her back. "You can go clean my truck."

"You can do it your fucking self" Armageddon snapped. He rolled his eyes at her and turned back to Ed.

"So, where were we?" He asked. "What have you got that we can trade."

Ed thought about it for a while before coming to a decision. "I got ten thousand dollars."

"Money ain't no good" Merle said before Mac could say anything. "Why not give us some of your rations?"

Ed seemed to think about it.

"That's a stupid thing to ask for" Armageddon mumbled and waited.

"Shut the fuck up, you ain't in this" Merle said and barely glanced over his shoulder to look at her.

"I'm not?" She asked and laughed bitterly. "Then who the fuck are you fucking trading on?" They didn't answer, just ignored her. Armageddon figured that if Ed, that fucking shithead, would come after her thinking she would give into Mac and Merle's every command, he would have another thing coming. She sat down far away from them, her back against a tree and she rubbed her temples. She closed her eyes and focused on a mental picture of her two husbands.

 _"I think we did a pretty good job on this" Armageddon said, her mouth full of candy, and plopped herself on their couch._

 _"Are you sure?" Con asked and put down the bags he was holding, putting them next to hers. "Are you sure we don't need to buy another pillow or something?" He sat down beside her and put his feet on their coffee table._

 _"You mean another blanket" Murph chimed in. "We bought, like, five pillows." Armageddon started laughing while Con only chuckled._

 _"Yeah, laugh now but you'll stop when you remember how small this shitty apartment is" Con said and smiled. When Armageddon stopped laughing and was serious enough, she said;_

 _"I like how small this shitty apartment is," She looked from one brother to the other. "Because it's cozy and because every couple starts with an apartment like this."_

 _"Not celebrities" Murph said and shrugged. "Now, scootch." Armageddon sat more upright and moved closer to Con._

 _"We might need to get a bigger couch, though."_

Armageddon was snapped out of that nice memory by a sense of another person close by. Really close by. Her eyelids snapped open and there it was, another human being standing in front of her. Armageddon wiped that smile off her face and looked dead serious at that person.

"What do you want, Glenn?" She asked and squinted. The sun was right behind him, just shining upon her, burning her eyes if she kept them open for more than a couple of seconds.

"I was just thinking..." He started but stopped. "Hey, Armageddon."

"Hi."

"I was just thinking... Like, if you're not too busy or anything..." He kept starting and stopping, so awkwardly that Armageddon wasn't sure if she should laugh or snap at him. "If we could go on that supply run?"

Armageddon's eyes widened for a second, like she was surprised, then her face straightened again. She even flashed him a brief smile. "Sure," She said. "I have nothing better to do." She stood up and followed him as he went to the car he used for these things. Armageddon glanced back, right before she got in the car, to the Dixon brothers who were still talking to Ed, and met all their eyes before turning back and getting into the car.

 _I really need this sort of thing,_ she thought to herself as they drove to the city. _Something to take the edge off, something to pump me up because nothing else will, except a fight with Mac or Merle._ This thing, these supply runs all felt so edging yet, relaxing in a way because it made Armageddon feel like she was actually pulling her weight, that she wasn't this useless broad that the two oldest Dixon brothers kept saying she is. Of course, the real reason why she kept on going to these things with Glenn was because she kept fantasizing on finding Con and Murph there, in the city, scouting for things while looking for her. Or that she'd get separated from him and be led away from the camp and toward Boston, although a thousand miles apart, and that she'd just keep on walking for days - if not weeks - and then she'd just find her two husbands and they'd be reunited again.

But, of course, no such thing happened. They went to a convenience store that was near the city limits and they scooped up everything that was left; two candy bars, a rotten banana, beef jerky and a couple of liters of Pepsi.

"This'll have to do" Armageddon mumbled and shrugged as she looked at the stuff in the backseat as they drove back. "They're just gonna have to live off Daryl's hunting for another day like the rest of us." Glenn nodded and winced when she mentioned Daryl's hunting. "What, you don't like his squirrels?" She asked and grinned.

"Nobody likes his squirrels" He answered and grimaced.

"You fucking princesses" she mumbled and chuckled.

"That's easy for you to say" He said and glanced at her. "You get the good stuff."

She raised her brows at him and waited for him to continue his absurd statement. "No, I mean like..." He started but trailed off. "You're like..." Everything he started always just got cut short.

"I'm like what?" She asked and raised her brows at him.

"His, uh.." He was fidgeting now, his fingers twitching on the steering wheel. "Like, uh, his posse." That made her burst out laughing, just like she always used to do when she was with Con and Murph. And she laughed for five minutes, barely breathing, another thing she always used to do with Con and Murph.

"Wow, I've missed that" She mumbled after she had gotten completely over that. "Oh, that was amazing." Then, she remembered that she was in a car with a person that was not one of her husbands so she straightened up. "You don't know how much you made my day with that joke." Glenn was furrowing his brows and glancing at her like he wasn't understanding the language she spoke. He was probably going to correct her on that, but decided against it, thinking he'd been laughed at enough for one day.

Another thing that Armageddon kept daydreaming about, this one was mostly when she was on her way back to the camp, was dead people overpowering them, Glenn and her, and she'd die. It was pessimistic, a thought that was too pessimistic for her to have, in her opinion if she was going to stay sane throughout the apocalypse, but yet, as they drove back she thought about it and wished it would happen. Maybe it was because deep down all Armageddon really wanted to do was to just give up, stop fighting and admit defeat to the world. Or, maybe it was because she was sick of her life, sick of being with the Dixon brothers and treated worse than her conscience when she was thirteen and had no self-esteem, before she met Con and Murph. She wasn't sure which and maybe she would never know.

When they arrived, Armageddon noticed that there were no Dixon brothers or an asshole named Ed hounding her and she took that as a good sign. Only hungry civilians who wanted real food and not _some jerky and a banana._ Armageddon didn't have to explain herself, this was life nowadays. They wouldn't have appetizing meals every day and they just had to deal with that, she sure as hell did. She separated herself from the group, ate her dinner in silence and thought about life. Daryl brought her some squirrels and even sat with her for a couple of minutes. That was probably the highlight of her day because she finally got to be with someone equally miserable on the inside.


	11. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The sun was shining, there were actual birds singing in the trees around - a sound almost alien to Armageddon since the apocalypse - and the atmosphere was calm. There hadn't been a walker sighting for two whole days and people were relaxed. They smiled and laughed around each other, exchanging small talk and bonded, pretending like they were on a camping trip and not stuck in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Armageddon, however, did not share their happiness nor tranquility. She lived in a constant state of hostility, fear and anxiety. She was scared she was never going to see her dear husbands again, she was scared of the people she was around in the group - Mac and Merle - and she was scared of being bitten and killed off before she could finally get to Con and Murph. Mac and Merle always wanted to have her in sight and taunted her often, hitting on her and making moves on her, making her more and more hostile by each day until she realized she was so tense that her heart as well as her muscles were starting to ache. She just wanted to go home. She wanted her best friends, her husbands. She just wanted to be happy again and feel normal. She wanted the apocalypse to end and to continue living happily and without a care in the world with Con and Murph.

 _That will never happen_ , a bitter voice inside her head sneered. She sighed and tried to ignore that voice, trying her best to have hope, but as each day went by and there were only the Dixon brothers instead of the MacManus brothers around her, her hope died little by little.

"Armageddon!" Someone called out, snapping her completely out of her thoughts and back into reality. It was Glenn.

She watched him approach her and leaned back to the tree she was sitting by, closing her eyes. "What do you want, Glenn?"

"Well, I was, uh, thinking..." He started, but stopped just as suddenly.

Armageddon waited a whole minute for him to continue, and when he didn't, she opened her eyes and glared, arching her brows at him. "What?" She almost snapped. She wished she wasn't so hasty and snarky, but that was all because she was so tense and angry every day. She inadvertently took it out on the whole world instead of just the two oldest Dixon brothers, who were mostly the cause of this anger. Sometimes she felt so bad about how she behaved around other people, especially Glenn, who was awkward, but also a generally nice guy, that she contemplated about going about to him and apologizing, but she never got around to it.

"I was thinking, since the weather is so good and there hasn't been a walker around here for a couple of days, that we, you and I, could go on a supply run? 'Cause, uh, hopefully there aren't that many walkers in the city and we can maybe try to go deeper and go to places that-"

Armageddon listened to him talk and felt it take forever so she stopped him and got up to her feet. "Yeah, sure" She said and nodded. "I've got nothing better to do."

Glenn smiled. His smile was so genuine that it warmed her up just a little bit.

"Hey, I'm sorry" She started as they drove away from the group and towards the nearest city.

"About what?" He asked her and she could feel his eyes on him, but she kept hers on the road as they drove.

"I'm sorry that I've been such a bitch to you lately" She answered shortly and talked fast because it felt uncomfortable to be apologizing. "All of this shit's just so intense and I've got so many things on my mind and-"

"You don't have to apologize" Glenn told her sincerely and she could feel his eyes on her yet again. She glanced at him, but quickly looked back to the very empty road they drove on. "Hey, I get it. This isn't, like, paradise on Earth, everyone's on edge, probably you the most because you have your husband in Boston and you're stuck with the Dixon brothers."

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Okay."

They drove in silence for the remainder of the ride, coming across very few walkers. They went to their usual store first, but it was plucked so dry that there was practically nothing left, so they decided to try their luck by sneaking further into the city and going into a store that they hadn't dared to go before. It was well plucked, but there were still very useful supplies there; canned goods, candy bars, cookies and crackers that nobody liked. So, Glenn and Armageddon gathered up as much as they could and fought three walkers for it, before returning to the car.

On the way home, she let Glenn drive and stared aimlessly out the window as they neared the exit of the city. She spotted a phone booth along the way and let herself day dream about jumping out of the car and calling either Con or Murph and they would answer and tell her that they were alive and doing well.

She smiled at that mental image, but pushed it quickly out of her mind because she knew she couldn't let herself day dream like that and give herself more hope. She had no idea if they were alive or not and the odds were more on the dead side than the live one. It was dull, but it was the truth. If your family member or spouse wasn't in the group with you, then they were more likely in a group of walkers, roaming around and eating flesh, than in another group, alive and kicking. Plus, now that the electricity was officially off, her husbands might as well have been dead either way because she had no source to contact them and find out if they actually were.

Armageddon's mood completely shifted when they arrived to the group and she was depressed again, more so than ever. She jumped out of the car as soon as Glenn stopped it, more because she didn't want to be around the rest of the people than her being too lazy to help him unload the car. She just really wanted to be alone and think, maybe cry if it came to that, and maybe take her rage out on something - dead or alive.

As she walked past Merle's vacant tent, she noticed something promising. Something she knew would drown out the pain. She looked around the spot where she, Merle, Mac and Daryl resided, looking for the Dixon brothers, and then took her chance and stole the Jack Daniels bottle from Merle when no one was looking before running into the woods and to her hiding spot.

Her hiding spot was a creek a couple of yards away from the camp. She had discovered it one day while helping Daryl with hunting - she knew he only asked her to join him so she could leave the camp and take her mind off everything for a short while and not because she could be helpful - and they had stumbled there as they hunted a deer. She had thought - and hoped - that Daryl had forgotten about that place as she made it her own, but sometimes, if she was gone for long enough, he would appear and bring her some food that he had hunted or gotten from the rations. Daryl really was a nice guy, with an actual warm, beating heart - unlike his brothers - and he seemed to care, even though he tried his best to hide it. They both knew that he could not display any feelings around his brothers unless he was asking to be taunted and even beaten, so Armageddon didn't blame him. He showed his kindness to her by bringing her food and making her eat at times when she really didn't want to, he had tried helping her escape that one morning in the Dixon house, and he was protective of her; taking his brothers' attention of her if they were too rough and stopped them if they went too far on her. She appreciated him and what he did for her, but when it really came to it, she didn't care about any of the Dixon brothers. She didn't care about anyone except her two husbands.

She sat down by a tree that was near the creek, leaning her back against it and looked around. Everything was quiet; the birds had stopped singing, there were no small animals running around the forest, no walkers roaming around and no live people bothering her. The creek was completely still, not even a ripple in the water. It was a dirty, blue-green color that would rather make you retch than clench your thirst and Armageddon was sure that there was no life there except bacteria and slime.

A frog croaked, snapping her back into reality and startle her as the sudden interruption of the silence seemed so loud that it cut her ears. It was a fat thing, sitting on a rock a few feet away from her. Its attention was on her and his throat bulged out as he croaked again. Armageddon stared back at the slimy, dark green creature with yellow eyes staring so deeply at her that he stared right into her soul.

The frog suddenly jumped away from the rock and into the creek, disrupting its stillness and disappeared under the water. The environment became silent again and Armageddon felt again like she was the only creature left alive in this planet. The only evidence that that frog had been there was the ripples in the water, that slowly died down. She decided that that was enough wait, unscrewed the top of the bottle and had a sip.

Dry whiskey was disgusting and she could barely swallow it as the bitter and strong taste filled her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to down it all down before exhaling loudly and sticking her tongue out, hoping that that would help get rid if that horrid taste. It tasted horrible, but that was the price if she wanted to get drunk and forget about her miseries for a while.

As she had another and another sip, she got used to the taste and it got easier to swallow. Before she knew it, she was able to chug and she took it to her advantage and downed almost half the bottle before finally stopping as the wave of inebriation hit her. She had often gotten drunk with Con and Murph, them living in the prime and partying stage of their lives, but she rarely chugged dry alcohol because she knew she couldn't handle it - the taste or so much at such little time. She had ended up puking a couple of times after failed attempts of downing too much at once, but this time, she managed to keep everything down.

She became numb, her thoughts became cloudy and her limbs became heavier than they actually were. The alcohol had officially hit her and taken effect inside of her body, joining her bloodstream and going all the way up to her brain. She knew the stupidest thing she could do in the midst of an apocalypse was get drunk, but she didn't care anymore. She just wanted her husbands or death, maybe even both because who knew if they were alive or not. So, Armageddon kept on drinking and made a good attempt to make the world around her disappear.

He couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't in their spot, she wasn't with the rest of the group and she wasn't at her hiding spot. It made Daryl nervous that he couldn't find Armageddon and he grew more and more nervous as time went by without seeing her. He wanted to keep her safe, to prevent her from becoming a dead one because she deserved to find her husbands again and be happy. Mac and Merle were fighting somewhere in the background, accusing each other and the people in the group of stealing Merle's whiskey, which he had salvaged from a supply run and was going to have all by himself. Daryl paid them no attention and thought about where she could have gone. _Is she gone to Boston?_ He didn't think so. He didn't think she would just all of a sudden up and leave and decide to walk a thousand miles, because if she was going to do it, she would have done it long ago.

He waited an hour after dark before he decided to go look for her again. She hadn't shown up and he had not seen her at all today. He knew she had gone on a supply run with the Asian, but he had no idea what she had done next as he had gone hunting and when he came back, she was nowhere in sight. He checked her hiding spot again and even ventured further into the woods, but found no traces of her; no footprints except old ones by the hiding spot, indicating that she was there sometime today. Armageddon went there often, sometimes a couple of times a day, so this was no news for Daryl.

After going as deep as he thought she would go into the woods alone, he turned back and looked through the camp once more before getting on his motorcycle and roaring away. He had a hunch on where she could be, it was unlikely, but it was the only idea he had at the moment.

He drove on the highway, in search for the young woman, but found nothing but a few walkers, which he killed. He was determined to find her, even if it meant riding into the city at dark and possibly being surrounded by the dead. He needed to find her and bring her back to safety.

Daryl found Armageddon asleep in a phone booth at the city limits. There were two walkers approaching the booth, but other than that, the coast was clear. He got rid of the walkers before storming into the phone booth, where the lost girl was holding a receiver to her ear, leaning against the glass wall with her back and drool running down her chin. She was clearly alive, and by the smell of her breath, drunk. He put two and two together and knew just where Merle's whiskey had gone as he picked her up and made her wrap her arms around him.

It was difficult driving back to camp, both because he had to make an effort to keep Armageddon steady and on the motorcycle, and because more and more walkers were making themselves known. Now, he had not the time nor resources to be getting rid of walkers, so he just sped past them and hurried back. Everyone was asleep when he came back except Dale, who was on lookout.

"What are you doing?" The old man asked Daryl as he stopped the motorcycle and practically slung Armageddon over his shoulder. He ignored Dale and was about to go take her to his tent when the old man repeated himself, louder this time.

"None of your business, old man."

"It is when you're carrying unconscious people from the group over to where you and your brothers sleep. What, are you going to gang-rape her and knock her unconscious again if she wakes up?"

"She's drunk" Daryl told him and stopped in his steps, looking him in the eyes. "I found her like this, a couple of miles from here."

"What was she doing a couple of miles away from here?" Dale asked and furrowed his white, bushy brows.

"Hell if I know."

Dale was about to say more when Armageddon grunted and tried to move, but was locked in position over Daryl's shoulder. They both looked at her, their attention shifting completely, before Daryl decides that that was enough and that he better get her down on the ground and to a place where she could sleep in peace. Dale didn't stop him as he turned around and continued over to the Dixon spot of the camp, the far end corner of the corner that was right by the woods. They would be the first to be eaten if the walkers would stumble in, and they would also be the first to score dinner by all the animals that run around the forest.

His tent was nearest to camp, bright orange and small, just big enough for one person. He could hear Merle snoring and saw that Mac's tent was zipped up, which meant that he was fast asleep too. He could feel his own tiredness wash over him, but he was going to think of Armageddon and take care of her before he could take the time to take care of himself. She had had it really bad over the last couple of months and deserved to have someone nice to her and someone who cared about her, even though he couldn't openly display it even if he tried or wanted to. He just hoped, as he tucked her into his sleeping bag, that she wouldn't take this the wrong way or think anything else of him.

 _"Armageddon is that you?" Murph's voice crackled through the phone receiver._

 _"Yep, it's me" Armageddon drawled and a big, bright smile lit up her face. She had her eyes closed and was leaning back in the phone booth she was in, envisioning her dear, handsome husband._

 _"Where are you? Are you okay?" He asked hurriedly and sounded nervous._

 _"I'm in Georgia" She slurred and opened her eyes, suddenly realizing something. "I don't remember why, but I'm in Georgia and this weird thing is happening."_

 _"Are you drunk?" He asked and she knew he was furrowing his brows._

 _"Yeah" She giggled._

 _"Con and I are okay, not bit or anything" He told her quickly, before letting silence interrupt her laughter. "We're doing fine, but we miss you so much and have been so fuckin' worried about you."_

 _"Aw, that's great" Armageddon said and closed her eyes once more. "That's really good. I've been worried about you too. I thought you guys were dead, but something inside me told me no."_

 _"We're not going to die, beautiful, don't worry" Murph reassured her. "Neither of us have time to die. We're too busy trying to survive so we can find you and be with you again."_

 _"I'm doing my best, too" She told him sincerely. "I've fought so many of them and come so close so many times, but it has never happened, thank god."_

 _"Are you alone?"_

 _"No. I'm with the Dixon brothers."_

 _"What?" He roared._

 _"Yeah" She nodded and felt a wave of tiredness wash over her._

 _"In Georgia? What the fuck are you doing with them?" Murph demanded to know._

 _"They saved me" Armageddon drawled and felt herself slowly succumbing to sleep. "But, I'm okay. Don't worry."_

 _"We'll be coming, beautiful" He told her. "We'll come to Georgia and find you-"_

Armageddon woke up with Murph's voice echoing in her mind, along with a raging headache. That dream felt so real that her heart sunk in her chest and broke as the hope she had in her dream died as she realized that that was the only thing that her dream was; a dream. Tears filled in her unwilling eyes and before she knew it, she was crying.

She cried because she wished so dearly that she had had that conversation with Murph. She cried because she missed him and Con so much. She cried because she knew she was never going to see them ever again.

She immediately stopped crying when she heard Merle's voice outside her tent and straightened herself up, wiping the tears away and willing herself to bury all her emotions under a thousand rocks. As she did this, she realized that she wasn't in her own tent. Her tent was blue and the tent she was in was bright orange. The stuff inside were men's clothes, a canteen and a hunting knife. Armageddon furrowed her blonde brows as she realized she was in Daryl's tent and wondered why that was.

She stayed in Daryl's tent for ten more minutes before she decided to crawl out. The sun shone brightly and made her head throb even more. Merle was sitting on a lawn chair and smirked as she inadvertently met his eyes. "So, 'twas the youngest brother you really liked, huh?" He drawled and almost sung because of his southern accent.

She ignored him and went to her own tent where she changed clothes and grew more and more nauseous. By the time she had put on new clothes and brushed her knotted locks, she had barely gotten out of her tent when everything spewed out of her. The little of what she had eaten the last couple of days and Merle's whiskey spilled out of her and made a yellowish puddle outside her tent. She heard Merle laugh somewhere in the background and comment if she'd had a fun night, but ignored him and kept on puking until there was nothing left to puke and her feeling of nausea vanished completely.

Armageddon's headache, however, just worsened. She wiped her mouth and spat, trying her best to get rid of that disgusting taste in her mouth, before grabbing the nearest water bottle and drinking greedily.

"Were you drinking?" A voice said, snapping Armageddon out of her thoughts. She looked at the person and saw Andrea standing there with judging eyes and her hands crossed over her chest. "Really?"

Armageddon stared at her with raised brows as if she were asking _is that really any of your business?_. "You know there are people dying and even more people turning into walkers. It's the end of the world and you're out here drinking like you don't give a shit about anyone or anything?" She continued and seemed to be ready to give a speech to Armageddon, who really did not have the patience to be listening to this bitch.

"Yeah, I am" She said nonchalantly and nodded.

"You're pathetic."

"Go mind your own business and get out of my ass" Armageddon retorted and felt her meter being filled up as time went by and Andrea had not turned around and stormed off. She really seemed pissed off because Armageddon had gotten drunk. _She's jealous and she's going to take that out on me because I could loosen up and have some fun, but she could never be able to do that._

"Ooh, there's a bitch fight" Merle said and his voice sounded closer, even though Armageddon didn't bother to look behind her shoulder to check.

"Fuck off, Merle."

"What's going on?" She heard Mac say and knew now that he too was close by.

"What are you waiting for?" Armageddon asked Andrea and crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight onto her left leg and took a stance that showed both that she didn't care for this confrontation nor had the patience for it. "Go back to whatever you were doing. If you're so envious about me getting wasted, then just ask Glenn to try to find you some booze the next time he goes on a supply run."

Andrea scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You know what? I hope you enjoy being raped by these rednecks at night and drown your sorrows-"

Armageddon did not wait to hear the rest of what Andrea had to say because now she had had enough. What she had said had pushed her completely off the edge and her tranquility vanished, replaced by burning wrath. She swiftly took out her Swiss Army knife, popped the blade out and jumped on Andrea, knocking her down to the ground. She pinned her down and put the blade so harshly against her neck so that blood droplets started trickling down her blade. Andrea screamed at the top of her lungs and Mac and Merle laughed in the background, cheering Armageddon on. "Don't you ever fucking say that! ' _Enjoy being raped_ ' I wouldn't even wish that on my worst enemies; how fucked up are you in the head?" She roared and spit flew out of her mouth inadvertently. "How does this feel? How does it feel being pinned down and not being able to move while another person does something you don't want? Remember this! Remember this feeling, because this is as close to being raped as the actual deed and I hope you realize that no one would ever deserve this."

Right after she finished saying that, she was pulled away from Andrea and held back with strong arms, while Dale and Amy, her little sister, helped Andrea to her feet and wiped away the few drops that ran down her neck. She was crying vigorously and probably felt horrible. Armageddon, who had dropped the knife, was still furious, but hoped that she had learned her lesson.

"What's wrong with you?" Amy exclaimed and had tears in her own eyes.

"Are you crazy?" Shane yelled out and she realized that he was the one who held her. She wanted to struggle, but that would indicate that she was still in the mood to fight and that was the last thing she felt. Armageddon just really wanted to get out of there, from the prying eyes from every single member of the group, go to her hiding spot and disappear for a while.

"Let go of her" Merle said.

"She's our problem, we'll handle her" Mac chimed in and filled Armageddon with rage once more.

Somehow, she managed to get out of Shane's hold and she stormed up to Mac, who stood a few feet from her, dressed in a white wife-beater and baggy jeans. She made a fist with her right hand, dug her nails into her palm and threw that fist in Mac's face as hard as she could. She had no idea where she had hit him, but it was hard enough for him to snap back and yell out loud. Time stopped. Everyone stared wide eyed at her and Mac, even Merle, who did not believe what had just happened. Mac held his nose, but she saw no blood. Her heart sunk in her chest as she realized the consequences of her actions. She knew nothing would happen to her as she attacked Andrea, but Mac was a whole other story. Nobody would mind that she had done that, except Merle, maybe Daryl, and of course the man himself, who did not take it lightly. He would give her a good beating, if not kill her, and she may have even called upon herself a raping. She had never been raped, but she knew it was always a possibility with Mac, especially if she made him mad enough. And that she had done.

Time resumed as Daryl pushed her back harshly so that she almost lost her footing and she thought that that was it. She was about to die. All three Dixon brothers were going to gang up on her and do unimaginable things to her and then leave her near death or dead in a ditch.

She realized that wasn't so when Mac leaped forward towards her, but was stopped by Daryl. He held him back as Mac fought to get Armageddon. "You're gonna regret that, stupid bitch!" He exclaimed and grunted as he fought in his little brother's hold. Everyone stared at Armageddon as she backed away and no one followed her as she disappeared into the forest.

The sun was setting and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Armageddon, who was only dressed in ugly brown cargo shots that she had found in some mall and a black tank top, shivered as she sat in the same exact spot as she did the night before and stared at the still creek. There were no frogs today, she heard one bird express itself and that was a crow that had sat down on a tree nearby her, croaked a couple of times before flying off. Other than that, there was stillness in the forest. She spent the rest of her day there, alone with her thoughts. She thought about everything that had happened today, the dream she had last night and how plastered she had been. She thought about Mac and his many tries to get into her pants and his roughness on her. She thought about her first few days in the apocalypse with the Dixon brothers and she thought about the few days before the apocalypse when she was with her husbands.

She cried and napped in her little sanctuary. She had been a little afraid of walkers stumbling to her as she closed her eyes and cleared her mind, and as she fell asleep, she felt herself being okay with that if they did come and eat her. She didn't mind death, in fact, she called for it. It was the only person she wanted to see because she was so convinced that Connor and Murphy were dead and among the walkers.

She was afraid, anxious, and as she sat there and watched the sun set, she decided that that was enough. Nobody in the group wanted to have her there, there awaited her nothing but violence that she knew nobody could stop or even wanted to stop. When Andrea said 'enjoy being raped' she realized that that was what the group members thought were going on with her and the Dixon brothers, yet they made weak to no attempts to help her or stop it, or even inquire about it. They disgusted her, every one of them, and she hated them. She decided as she watched the sky turn bright orange and the clouds pink from the rays of the twilight sun, that she was going to go to Boston and find her husbands. Either she would make it there or she would die on the way and she was okay with that. In fact, she was disgusted with herself for not having decided this sooner because there were probably two months since the apocalypse hit. _Two months and this selfish bitch finally thinks about someone other than herself,_ she thought to herself bitterly and cursed herself under her breath.

As she called herself all sorts of bad names, Daryl emerged from the trees and sat down a few feet from her. "Hey" He said and met her eyes before immediately looking away.

"What do you want?" Armageddon spat. She hated him, she hated everyone called Dixon and every person - both living and dead - in this world, even herself. The only two people she didn't hate, whether they were dead or alive, were Connor and Murphy MacManus.

"You can go back" He answered and kept his eyes on the ground. She looked him up and down and furrowed her brows. He was wearing his black, leather west with the wings at the back. His stubble had grown a little and so did his hair, which were the same light-sandy brown color. The mole on his upper lip twitched as he gnawed on his cheek before he looked up again and met her eyes. "Mac won't hurt you."

"How the fuck do you know?"

"'Cause I made sure of it" He answered. Armageddon's response to that was a scoff. "Trust me, he's not gonna touch you."

She pursed her lips and looked away as she realized that she was wrong to hate Daryl Dixon. He was nice and sweet and cared for her, even though he didn't show it to the outside world. She knew this because who else would stop the psychotic maniac named Mac, who would normally not let anyone interfere with his anger. She barely believed that Daryl could have said or done something that made Mac change his mind about her, but the way Daryl said _trust me_ made her do it.

"Come on," Daryl said and stood up before offering her his hand. "You can't stay here forever. No food, no water. You're hungover-"

"I wanna go" She said and ignored his extended hand. "To Boston and find them."

"Then you're gonna have to come with me" He said and finally met her eyes. "You can't leave with no food or water. You need to gather strength and energy 'cause you don't run on fumes for that long. You can't."

Armageddon looked at him with pursed lips before eventually nodding and letting him help her to her feet. She hated the idea of going back to the camp, but Daryl was right, so she let him take her back.

No one was welcoming, though. Andrea got up and left when she saw Armageddon approaching and the rest which were sitting, huddling by a group fire, pretended not to notice her. Mac and Merle, who were sitting in their corner of the camp even pretended like she didn't exist. It was a nice feeling, but Armageddon really felt the need to express herself because this silence was too much. "I know what I did was too much and I have no excuses about it. I still stand by the fact that what Andrea said was the most disgusting thing I've ever heard and I really hope you all aren't so stupid that you disagree-"

"You didn't have to put a knife to her throat" Dale said, interrupting her.

"No, I did not" She responded and shook her head. "That was wrong and I admit it wholeheartedly."

The group members nodded or looked away and the only person who looked at her was Shane. "Can I trust you that you won't attack anyone else again?" He asked her and raised his bushy, black brows at her.

"Yeah."

He nodded and looked over to Lori, who had her arms wrapped tightly around her son and then looked back to Armageddon with no judgement.

Daryl caught her attention by calling out her name and throwing her a water bottle, which she caught easily. She had some squirrel for dinner and an old banana along with water and then she went to her tent, where she spent the rest of her night unbothered by both the Dixon men and the rest of the group.


	12. Cruel Intentions

Cruel Intentions

Armageddon rubbed her temples and rolled her eyes before turning around. She was about to clean some of her clothes when she came across Andrea, Amy, Jacqui and Lori by the lake, already doing the camp's laundry. Now, usually that wouldn't stop her, either before or after she put a knife to Andrea's throat, but as she stopped and listened to what the women were saying, she rather wanted to turn around and head back.

"I don't understand why everyone likes Armageddon" Andrea said and huffed as she dumped a rosy shirt underwater and rubbed a stain out of it.

"She's a lunatic" Amy said.

"The men like her" Lori corrected her. "She somehow manages to charm every one of them out of their pants."

"Have you heard that she's married to two men?" Jacqui asked and looked up from her laundry.

"At the same time?" Amy ate up. "I thought she had just been married twice."

"Yeah, I've heard" Lori said and nodded.

"She probably whores herself around" Andrea said. "Jumps from one man to another. Who knows, maybe she's married to five guys."

Armageddon had enough of that talk, but instead of walking up to them, she turned around. She turned around only because she was sick of drama and fighting. Yes, the bitter women had hurt her feelings and she wanted to go up to them and confront them, but apparently she was a _lunatic_ and they all seemed to have made their minds about her so there was no trying to change it. Of course it hurt her and she knew it would nag her for as long as she was around those women, but there was little she could do except try her best to not think about it and focus her energy on something else.

When she returned to the camp, she was greeted by Mac, who sat by his tent on a lawn chair. She could feel his eyes bore into her as she walked past him and put her clothes back into her tent and heard him say something, though she did not hear what it was. As she stuck her head out of her tent, she raised a brow at him. "What?"

"Why don't you bring that ass closer?" He asked and reached out to grab her, but she moved away quickly enough for his hand to barely brush her skin. As she did, she got an idea.

She sat down beside him and hugged her knees to her chest. "You know, Andrea's got a real thing for you" She said in a matter of fact tone and met his icy blue eyes.

He cocked his brows. "Who?" He grunted.

"The blonde woman-"

"The blonde bitch that nags about everything?" He asked, cutting her off.

"Yup, that's her."

"The one you put a knife to the throat?" He continued and a smirk entered his lips.

"Yeah" She nodded and hated the way he smirked at her. She looked away and wrinkled her nose. It was because of those actions of hers that made the rest of the group apprehensive of her; and even though she did not care what any of those assholes thought of her, she was still a human that wanted to socialize and be liked. That was a basic want in every single human being.

"How the fuck do you know that?" Mac asked and caught her attention again.

"Haven't you noticed the way she looks at you?" She asked and felt a weird side of her open up. She was never a person to spread false rumors for her amusement, she usually was very against it, but as Mac ate up her every word, she felt the smallest pinch of happiness wash over her. She hadn't felt happiness in, what felt like, many months. "I've caught her practically drooling over you more than a couple of times."

"No news to me" He said with a cocky smile, but she knew he had taken the bait and believed her fib. He stood up without another thought and disappeared into the camp before Armageddon could say another word and she found herself chuckling quietly as she watched him leave to go harass Andrea. She knew that Andrea would deny this to the teeth and push him away, but that wouldn't stop Mac. She knew that he would now stop hounding her and his primary target would shift from her to Andrea and Armageddon was practically off the hook. Andrea was his new victim and she was going to suck it.

Mac did not wait long after he was told this when he left her to pursue his latest victim. Armageddon knew that with that former cop, Shane, around, Mac wouldn't be able to do anything to Andrea except scare her and make her uncomfortable and honestly, that was all Armageddon wanted. She watched him leave and sighed in relief, now she would finally get some peace as now only one out of the three Dixon brothers would try to get in her pants. Well, Mac would always be a horny ass to her, but now it would be much less since his egotistical, psychotic mind would solely focus on Andrea and how much of an 'easy bait' she was to him.

"What you smirking about?" Merle asked and snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing" She answered shortly and barely gave him a glance.

"Where's my brother?"

She shrugged and met his eyes. "Hell if I know."

"You're scheming something, I know it" He said with a smirk and squatted down so that he would be on her eye-level.

"What?"

"I can see it by the way you smile and how you talk, something's up" He continued and seemed to be thinking. "Something about… hmm… that bitch you almost killed. What's her name?"

"Andrea" Armageddon answered and tried her best to look casual and innocent, but on the inside she hated how she could never keep a poker-face and that she had just ruined her brilliant plan. Merle would soon find out that she had said something to Mac and he would tell Mac the truth and then there would be no petty revenge on that hag and she also would get no peace from the two of them once more.

"Yeah, that's the bitch" He snickered. "What you do?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, come on, don't 'nothin'' me. I'm your old pal, Merle. And, if I didn't know any better, I'd say I was your brother-in-law too. You know you can tell your brother-in-law anything."

She rolled her eyes and felt anger boiling inside as she heard him say those words. Murphy may be their biological brother, but that did not mean he was a part of that damn family, and as many times as she tried to make that clear to them, it never seemed to. "You ain't my brother-in-law" She said coldly and shook her head.

"You know that leprechaun's a Dixon. Just 'cause he talks funny, doesn't change it."

Armageddon just shook her head. Murphy had been born into that family in Georgia, but he was barely two years old when he was taken away because of abuse and malnourishment, and because of that, she, and Murph, Con and Ma, thought that afterwards Murphy Dixon died and Murphy MacManus was born. He was no longer a Dixon since that family treated him so badly that they didn't deserve to have such an amazing guy like him a part of their lives. But, did Merle or Mac acknowledge that? No. They tried to 'get him back' when he turned eighteen, after seeking him out and finding him in Boston with his twin brother and his now-wife, and he had wholeheartedly turned them down as he had no interest in being anything than a MacManus.

"I didn't came here to fight. Peace and love and all that" He said and tried once more to pry. "What you got goin' with Andrea?"

"Nothing" Armageddon answered and shook her head.

Before Merle could say anything more, the star of their conversation started yelling. Their heads whirled in the direction and they could see Andrea yelling curses at Mac, who didn't seem to take any of it. Merle watched them for a few seconds with a grin on his face before laughing. "That's what you did, you saucy minx" He guffawed before standing up.

"What're you gonna do?" She asked quickly and jumped to her feet, stopping him as he was about to approach them.

"Just be a part of that action" He answered casually, before his grin turned once more into a smirk. "Relax, sweetheart, I'll keep your secrets."

Armageddon pursed her lips as she watched him go as well to taunt Andrea and hoped to God that he would keep his word. She was not afraid of Andrea finding out, she kind of expected it, but she didn't want Mac to lose interest and go stalk her again. Though, as she watched the two of them, she was sure he wouldn't lose interest quite yet. He had found interest in stalking this newfound prey, but for how long, she did not know.


	13. What to Expect When You're Expecting

What to Expect When You're Expecting

 _ **Before season 1**_

Armageddon stared down at her panties as she hunched down and peed in the forest. She had just woken up and was taking her morning piss, deep in the woods so that no one - especially the Dixon brothers - would not watch her while she did her business. The panties were somewhat clean, but she wished they were dirtier. She knew she should have started her period two days ago, and she had wished that she would start today, but there was no blood indicating that she had started. She sighed and felt paranoia wash over her. She knew that stress affected the menstrual cycle and the zombie apocalypse was the most stressful surroundings to be stuck in, but all she could think of was that Mac had somehow managed to rape her in her sleep and gotten her pregnant.

She licked her lips as she finished up and pulled her pants back up. She had a solution if it really was the latter reason why she had not started her period yet, but decided to wait with checking on that solution until after she had eaten breakfast.

Today's breakfast were canned beans. Armageddon picked at them and found she had very little appetite as the paranoia and stress inside her magnified with every passing minute. Her only thought was _I'm pregnant_. _I'm pregnant_.

 _I'm pregnant_.

"Daryl" She suddenly said and stopped him as he was about to walk past her. He looked from the ground and met her eyes with a raised brow. "I need a favor."

"What?" He asked.

"It doesn't matter right now," Armageddon said and waved her hand dismissively. "Just promise me that you'll help me with one thing if I ask you." She knew, out of everyone in this group, she could count on Daryl to help her and trust that he would keep his mouth shut about it. She knew his heart was good and not black like his brothers, so he would not refuse her when the time came. _If_ the time came.

Instead of asking more about it, he shrugged and threw his crossbow over his shoulder. "Sure" He said shortly before continuing his walk and leaving her with the half-eaten beans. Armageddon watched him leave with pursed lips before looking down to the beans and putting them away. She was never a fan of canned beans anyway.

She refused to look at Mac or even be around him the whole day. She undoubtedly blamed Mac for this because she knew, out of the two, Mac was the likelier brother to do a thing like rape a woman in her sleep. Merle was bad, but he wasn't _that_ bad. He was just an asshole. Mac, however, Mac was a monster.

The sun was crawling down the horizon and the group members were hunched together, eating what little food they shared and called dinner and shared small talk. Armageddon had been invited to sit and eat with them, but she had refused as she barely wanted to do anything but lay in her tent and wait for God to give her a sign that she wasn't pregnant. A bloody sign. She didn't want to see anyone, she didn't want to hear anyone and she didn't want to be around anyone. She had contemplated about going to her hiding spot, but she was so paralyzed with stress and depression, that she couldn't make herself leave her sleeping bag.

She stared blankly at the book that she was currently reading, her mind so empty that she didn't register anything. The voices in the distance seemed like background music that she did not bother listening to and the orange glow that her tent cast didn't seem to brighten anything up. All she could think about was how there was a chance that there might be a small human growing inside of her stomach. A chance that got higher and higher with every passing day without her period showing up. Sure, her menstrual cycle might be fucked because of the apocalypse, and she knew she should consider that as the likeliest possibility, but she just didn't find it reasonable enough. She knew she would have woken up or at least been aware of Mac - or whoever else - forcing himself inside her, that she would remember, but she couldn't.

She heard Merle's voice and flinched. She could see his shadow standing nearby through her tent and found herself crawling deeper into her sleeping bag and even zipping it all the way up so that she could not be seen. Sure, if someone were to come into her tent, they would see that someone was under the sleeping bag, but they wouldn't see her in particular.

She closed her eyes, squeezed them shut and thought of her husbands, disappearing from this world and entering another one; a world without zombies or the Dixons. She was with her two husbands, cuddling in bed and watching a movie, munching on popcorn and wrapped around both of them. It wasn't a special memory in particular, they did this so often, so she just called out that mental image and stuck there all the way until she fell into a dreamless sleep.

She did not start her period the next day. Nor the day after that. Her depression and anxiety grew and she became more and more antisocial. She avoided Mac like a burning fire, she avoided the whole trio of the Dixon brothers, and never even left her tent unless to do her business. Dale did stop by her tent and brought her some food, asking her if something was wrong and what was bothering her, but she only waved him off and came up with the excuse that she was feeling under the weather. He tried getting more information out of her, but it was useless as Armageddon was determined not to say another word.

It wasn't until at dusk two days after she realized that she might be pregnant when someone else bothered her.

"Armageddon?" Daryl's husky, low voice said, snapping her out of her thoughts and into reality. She hadn't done anything that day except stare into the abyss and wait for her period to start. Nothing had happened.

"What?" She grunted and really hoped that he would just turn around and leave her be.

Instead of getting her wish granted, he zipped up her tent and flashed her an apologizing look before crawling into her tent with a box of cookies. "Thought you might like this, since you haven't eaten anything" He said and handed her the cookies.

Armageddon rolled her eyes and ignored the cookies he offered her. "I'm not hungry."

"You gotta eat" He insisted.

"I don't _gotta_ do anything" She retorted and felt anger boil inside her. She didn't even care now that he was just trying to be nice and help her. She just wanted him to fuck off.

"Yeah, you gotta. If you wanna survive" He said and put the box down by her side. She pursed her lips and was about to tell him how little her want for survival was, but he cut her off before he got the chance to. "You needed a favor?"

"What?" She furrowed her brows at him.

"You asked me to do you a favor a couple of days ago" He told her and sparked the memory of her asking him for help. She had not said for what, but as that memory filled her brain, she glowed with hope. _Daryl will help me_ , she thought to herself, _if I don't get my period and really am pregnant, then he'll help me abort it!_

"Yeah, I did" She nodded and sat up, suddenly feeling light enough to brush the pointless depression and paranoia away.

"What did you want?"

"I think I'm pregnant" She admitted and and took a deep breath before looked away from his gaze. "And I need your help."

"With what?"

"Aborting it."

"You mean killing it?" He asked and raised his brows so high that they reached his forehead. She met his eyes and nodded.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure if I actually am pregnant or not," She started, but he cut her off.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He exclaimed but lowered his voice immediately. "You've got an innocent baby and you want to kill it?"

"There's only one way, I'm pregnant, because I haven't had any sex since before the apocalypse, and I think we both know what that is-" She started and tried her best to sound calm, even though her voice started to break as she was about to admit her worst nightmare. Daryl stopped her before she could.

"No, we both don't know what that is" He said and shook his head. "God didn't suddenly decide to make you the next Virgin Mary, so you must have-"

"Mac" She said and a shiver went down her spine as she spoke his name. Her lips quivered as she forced herself to finish that sentence. "Mac did this. I-I'm sure of it. Must have come into my tent-"

"This is ridiculous" Daryl exclaimed and this time didn't care how loud he was. "It's fucking ridiculous and you know it!"

Without another thought, he stormed out of her tent and left her alone. Tears welled up in her eyes and she hid herself in her sleeping bag as she cried.

"Here" Daryl said the next day and handed Armageddon a brown paper bag.

"What is this?" She asked him and furrowed her brows as she took the bag.

"This will tell you if you're..." He paused and pursed his lips before flashing her a look that finished the rest of his sentence.

Armageddon mentally thanked him and disappeared into the forest, this time going to her hiding spot. She really didn't want to take a pregnancy test because that would only confirm her biggest fears, but at the same time, it would also shut down her paranoia. So, she was left with no choice but to yank down her trousers and panties, hunch down and put the stick beneath her.

After while of awkward stance and peeing on her fingers, Armageddon watched the lines slowly form, two of them. She waited an eternity, waited desperately for the second line to fade and disappear, but, instead, both lines got more visible and confirmed everything she hoped to deny.

She was pregnant.

Armageddon didn't even care that she hadn't washed her piss-stained fingers as she buried her face in her hands and sobbed violently. She cried, screamed and cursed as loudly as she could at everyone and anyone in this world - both living and dead. She hoped, as her throat got sore, that a walker would make its way toward her and take her life. He could bite her and eat her flesh and give her the freedom of leaving this world.

No one ever came, though. No walkers to eat her and no humans to shut her up. She was all alone in this world with no one except the baby growing inside her that did not belong to Con or Murph.

"What was it?" Daryl asked her as Armageddon emerged from the woods. She did not give him an answer, just stormed right into her tent with a look of pure wrath in her face. When she returned, she held a wire coat hanger. She saw Daryl's face lose all color as he stared down at the object in her hands before meeting her eyes. "You're-"

"Don't say it" She growled. Her tone might have screamed rage, but her eyes shone with melancholy.

"But, you are?" He asked. "You're sure?"

"Yep."

He took her hand and led her away from the group, far enough so that no one would hear them if they used their indoor voices. "You can't kill it" He said and shook his head. "It's not yours to decide-"

"It _is_ mine to de-fucking-cide" Armageddon roared and felt wrath burn in her veins. "Who the fuck are you to tell me what I can and can't do!"

"You can't decide for someone else" He insisted.

"It's not even a someone yet, Daryl" She told him. "It's just a little speckle of something that has yet to grow into something living and breathing-"

"It's still a life" He said. "And if you kill it, you'll be as bad as the dead ones."

"I don't care!" She cried out and shook her head as tears started running down her face. "I don't care if I'm as bad as the dead for wanting to do this. I have every right! We're living at the end of the world and I can barely manage myself, now I'm supposed to bring a baby into this ugly, disgusting world too? Force it to live a life of fear and running? I wouldn't-"

"You don't know how long this is gonna last" Daryl tried to reason.

"Well, judging by the military's well-done job, I'd say this will last 'til every single living person gets eaten alive and turns into those things. They will occupy this world and there-"

"I'm not gonna help you do this."

"Fine, I'll find someone else!" She shouted and was about to turn around and run off to the group, too desperate to get rid of the growing human inside her to think of her pride or what the others were going to think of her, when Daryl grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"No one's gonna help you" He told her reasonably. "I don't know how well this wire hanger works, but you'll just end up making things worse."

Armageddon pursed her lips and inhaled deeply. She knew he was right by an extent; she knew that no one in the group would say yes to helping her do this. There was a reason why she had asked Daryl in the first place. He was the only person she trusted could do this and he was the only one who would keep his mouth shut about this.

"I believe you" He said after a few minutes of agonizing silence as they both stared down to the ground and thought things through. She wouldn't look up to meet his eyes, but she knew he was looking at her. "No one but Mac would do this." Tears were still streaming down her face and she hated herself for it, but she couldn't stop it even if she tried. So, she just sniffed and nodded. "But, he doesn't have to be the father."

"What do you mean? Yes, he's the father" She mumbled and furrowed her brows before glancing up to meet his eyes.

"You can say I did this" He suggested. "You can say that I-"

"What?"

"We could have sex" He suggested more enthusiastically. "We could say that it's mine and-"

"Who would that help, Daryl?" Armageddon asked hopelessly and threw her hands up in the air.

"You! The baby!"

"There is no baby and there will be no-"

"Armageddon" Daryl said and stopped her. "You could be our savior. You could be the one that helps us douchebags start make a bunch of future douchebags."

It was a funny choice of words, but she did not laugh. _We could say it's mine_ , his words echoed in her brain. She shook her head and ran her fingers through her uncombed blonde hair. "I gotta think things through" She said and this time didn't give him a chance to stop her.


	14. Little Children

Little Children

Armageddon had barely closed herself off in her tent when she heard yells and thumps.

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl exclaimed loudly. What followed were grunts.

Armageddon knew that could only mean one thing, so she got out of her tent and saw Daryl and Mac in a brutal fist fight. Daryl's nose and lip bled, while Mac had a few scratches on his face. He was punching his little brother in the gut when Armageddon saw what was happening. The group formed a crowd among them, staring in shock and awe at what was happening, but never dared to interfere.

"Hey!" Armageddon yelled out and was about to try to get between them when Merle stopped her by wrapping his arms around her and keeping her tightly in his embrace.

"Relax, sweetheart, they can finish this on their own" He said softly in her ear and she could feel his hot breath on her skin as he did. She squirmed in his grip and pushed him away, while Shane and T-Dog got in the middle of the two men and stopped them. Mac seemed calm and rational, while Daryl fought in T-Dog's grip and cursed his older brother to hell. Usually, it would be the other way around; Mac would be the crazy, angry one and Daryl would be the calm and rational one. Though, the two never fought as brutally as that.

Armageddon was just as mad as Daryl, though she did not show it. She was mad at Mac for obvious reasons, and she was mad at Daryl for making things obvious and peak everyone's interest. This was the closest thing to everyone knowing without actually saying the words. Daryl looked her way, but she refused to look at him as he fought to get out of T-Dog's hold. She knew he was only doing this for her, that he was trying to take revenge on his brother for her and knock some sense into him, but Armageddon had never asked him to do such thing. She had only asked him for one thing, and that was to help her abort the baby that would soon grow inside her. What did he do? He gave her a big speech on not aborting it and then taking matters in his own hands.

She left the group without another thought, uninterested in what was going to happen next. She didn't want to be around any of them, the Dixons or otherwise, she just wanted to be alone and think things through. She was determined to kill it, but Daryl's words still haunted her and even made a small part in her want to rethink.

 _I can't have a baby. Not here, not in this world. Not without Con or Murph. They will be the only ones that I will have a baby with._

 _But can I abort it myself?_ She asked herself and felt tears well up in her eyes. She had seen women attempt to do it in movies and that almost always ended up with them dying.

 _I don't mind dying_.

No, she really didn't mind dying. She wanted death. She wanted nothing more than to give up on this world and leave it, become another body buried six feet under the dirt. She rather wanted worms to nibble at her skin and eat her whole than to be stuck with a baby in these harsh times.

 _We could say it's mine_. Daryl's words popped up and made her purse her lips. The tears started shedding and she unwillingly gave into them. If she were to do this with anyone in this group, it would hands down be Daryl. She had known him the longest and he was the only one in the group who showed signs that he cared about her. He wasn't like his brothers, who taunted and teased her, trying to get in her pants. He didn't tell her that the only valuable thing about her was her body that he liked to stare at. He didn't do any of that. He took her hunting with him, brought her food when he noticed that she wasn't eating enough and he treated her like an actual human being; like an equal. She cared about him too, even though she didn't always want to admit it, but did she care enough about him to want something like that?

He seemed to. He seemed more than ready to tie his life to hers and father the baby inside her, even though that meant being stuck with a baby that would not know when to shut its mouth. A baby that would need constant caring. She thought that neither of them were ready for that for numerous reasons; they were busy enough taking care of themselves; they were both raised by bad-to-none parents; they had no idea what they were going to call upon themselves.

"Hey" He said and snapped her out of her thoughts. Armageddon looked from the ground and to Daryl and realized she had stopped crying. He held a durag to his nose, which seemed to be still bleeding, but otherwise looked fine.

"Hey" Armageddon said quietly and watched him sit down by her before averting her gaze somewhere else.

"Have you thought about things?" He asked her softly.

Her answer was a shrug. She had spent such a long time thinking about this horrible thing, that she wanted nothing more than to stop thinking about it.

"I meant it" He said and caught her attention once more, making her look from the ground and to him with raised brows. "When I said we could say it's mine. I know it's a lot, but I'll do whatever I can-"

"Daryl, please stop" Armageddon said and cut him off, shaking her head. "I really don't-"

"I can do it. I can be a father. I'll take care of you and the baby and if you don't want it, then I'll take care of it all by myself" He insisted. "Just, don't kill it."

"Why are you so intent on not letting me abort my own baby?" She asked him in confusion and furrowed her brows at him. She just couldn't wrap her mind around why it was that he was acting like that; why he was so determined for this baby to live.

"'Cause I have a feelin'" He told her softly. "I have a feeling that your baby is a sign. A good sign."

"It's not" She scoffed and shook her head before letting out a chuckle. "It's _far_ from a good sign. It's the exact opposite of a good-"

"That's not how I see it."

"Too bad, you're not the one carrying it" She said in a matter of fact tone.

"No" He said and shook his head. "I'm not."

Silence followed those two words and Armageddon waited for him to say more, but he did not. She expected him to plead his case even more and try his hardest to convince her not to abort the baby, but instead, he kept his mouth shut and stared at the ground in front of him. She did the same and felt the silence between them both comforting and uncomfortable. It gave her an opportunity to think, but she really didn't want to think. She had thought about this all day and the day before and the day before that. She just wanted to get all of that out of her head and pretend like nothing was happening.

A walker emerged from the trees on the other end of the creek, ten feet away from them. Its growls snapped them both into reality and they shared a look before jumping to their feet at the same time. She knew Daryl was going to kill it, so she beat him to it and raced towards it, pushed it against the closest tree and drove the blade of her Swiss Army knife into its eye.

"What are you doing?" Daryl yelled as she did all of this.

Armageddon removed the blade from the incapacitated zombie, wiping the dark, foul smelling blood off her blade before turning to him and putting the knife into her pocket. "What's it look like?"

"It looked like you're putting yourself into pointless danger" He retorted and approached her.

"I've taken out tons of walkers before" She answered for herself and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Not while carrying a baby."

"All the more reason to show I haven't changed" She reasoned. "I'm not suddenly weak and useless just because some sperm fertilized my egg."

"Didn't say you're weak and useless" He told her and shook his head, stopping right in front of her. He kicked the walker to make sure it was completely dead.

"It sounded that way."

"I just don't want you to get hurt" He admitted quietly and kept his eyes on the dead walker. She was about to answer when he turned around and headed back into camp without another thought.

"You gonna tell me what that was all about, lil' brother?" Merle asked Daryl the second Armageddon emerged from the woods. She had followed suit and felt bad after what he had said to her.

"Want you to stay away from her" He grunted and looked at Merle before turning his gaze to Mac.

"Oh," Merle chuckled and a grin spread on his face. "And why's that?"

"Because we're sleeping together" Armageddon answered before Daryl could.

Mac and Merle's heads whirled in her direction and both men stared at her in shock. Merle looked from her and to the youngest brother. "No shit?"

She could see how flustered Daryl got when Merle and Mac questioned him about this and was relieved that she had managed to speak up before he would have said some weak bullshit that his brothers wouldn't believe. "Yeah" He finally answered and nodded.

Mac said nothing, just grunted and glanced at Armageddon. "I knew you had the hots for a Dixon" Merle said to her with a grin on his face. She wrinkled her nose at him and left the brothers to process these 'news' as she went to her tent and closed herself off from the rest of the world.

She thought she was finally getting some peace and quiet when the zipper of her tent went up and Daryl was pushed inside. She could hear Mac snicker and Merle laugh wholeheartedly. "Go get that ass" Mac exclaimed.

"I won't let you two out until you fuck each other's brains out" Merle said and zipped Armageddon's tent down, closing them off.

Daryl met her eyes awkwardly before sitting down in one corner of the tent. Armageddon had been reading _The Amityville Horror_ , a novel she had found while raiding cars for food and clothes. She had seen the movie, both the original and the remake, and she was, so far, enjoying the novel. She looked back to her book and continued reading, not really interested in playing Merle's sick game.

"I don't hear any moaning" He yelled out after five minutes.

"Shut up" She yelled back and turned back to the book, ignoring Daryl as she could feel his eyes on her.

Merle peaked into her tent fifteen minutes later and the grin on his face disappeared immediately when he saw the two of them. "I thought y'all were having sex."

"We just finished" Armageddon said unenthusiastically, then looking from the book and to him. "We don't have to be naked to do the business." She only said those words to get him off her and Daryl's back and leave them alone. He might not believe her, but that was the only thing she was going to bother to say about this. Now, she turned back to her book and zoned away from reality.

Merle left soon and Daryl did too, meeting her eyes and flashing her a look before leaving. _Daryl is a good guy,_ she thought to herself as his eyes bored into her mental image. She was left alone by everyone for the rest of the day and finally got some peace and quiet and even moments where she completely disappeared from the world and forgot about the baby inside her.


	15. Life as we Know it

Life as we Know it

She dreamt of Jacob's Ladder. Armageddon dreamt the whole plot of the psychological horror/thriller starring Tim Robbins. She did not live herself as the main character of the movie, she just dreamt that she was watching very intently at it, like a fly on the wall. It was at least five years since she had seen that movie, yet her dream went into so much detail that she actually thought she had fallen asleep watching it. As she came to, she didn't feel anyone beside her; no hands were wrapped around her and there was no one laying with her in bed. She next realized that she wasn't laying on a bed, but maybe a very thin mattress because she could feel the hard surface of the ground beneath her. As she opened her eyes and took in the orange walls of her small tent,she wallowed in those few seconds when she actually believed she was in Massachusetts, a little way outside of Boston, in her home with Connor and Murphy MacManus. It had been a blissful few seconds where she was at peace and ignorance.

Now she realized she was in the middle of the zombie apocalypse, sleeping in a tent surrounded by strangers and a band of brothers, two of the three she hated more than anything in this world, and carrying one of those assholes' baby. The weight of the world fell on her shoulders and crushed her, making it seem like she was in the ocean and being dragged under the water by the current. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move and nothing she thought of could help her in this situation. She was stuck, in every way possible, and all she could think about was how relieving it would be if she could just get her hands on a pill bottle and downing it with pleasure, ending her life in a dreamless sleep.

She lay on her back with her hands inside her shirt and on top of her stomach, right where she imagined the baby being. _It's not even a baby_ , she thought to herself and closed her eyes, _it's not even a fetus yet. It's just an ominous little potato created from immorality_. Tears welled in her eyes once more, but she fought them and buried her feelings under a ton of rocks. She was not going to cry about this. She was not going to demonstrate weakness of any kinds, especially in front of Mac. She rather wanted to feel numb than crushing depression that impacted her every move. She knew that the numbness was just a symptom of the depression and that the longer she stayed that way, the worse she would eventually break down.

The world lost its color and everything became dull as Armageddon sat up and climbed out of her sleeping bag. She mindlessly took off yesterday's clothes and put on new ones. She felt herself losing touch of herself, as if she were solely a spirit wandering around than an actual, living human being. Daryl was outside of her tent and the wings on the back of his jacket greeted her as she pulled the zipper of her tent up and was about to go out. He sat with his back to her, right in front of her tent so that she could not get out because he was blocking the entrance, and was hunched down like he was sleeping.

She pushed him away, waking him up, as she made her way from him and to the group. Andrea, Lori, Carl, Sophia, Carol, Jacqui and the Morales family sat by Dale's RV and chatted as they nibbled on crackers on beef jerky; the breakfast.

"Hey" Mrs. Morales said as she saw Armageddon approaching them. " _Quiero desayuno_?"

"No" Armageddon answered shortly. " _No soy hambre_."

" _Tú tienes que come_ " Mrs. Morales insisted and handed her to Bugles bag. " _Estás bien?_ "

"Sí" Armageddon answered emotionlessly and took the bag of chips just so she wouldn't be questioned even more. She sat down by the family and stared aimlessly into the abyss as she heard the children play in front of her, but did not listen, and heard the women talk amongst themselves, but didn't comprehend a word they said. Her hand robotically reached into the bag and put a few triangle-shaped, nacho cheese flavored chips into her mouth. As she chewed and found no taste of it. She swallowed and repeated the circle as she forgot if she even had eaten a handful of Bugles or not.

The cheesy aftertaste of the last Bugle was not ideal and left Armageddon thirsty, but she didn't bother reaching for the can of water that the group shared among themselves. If there was something she was going to consume, it would rather be vodka than water. She couldn't care less about the baby inside her and how the substance could hurt it, she just wanted everything to go away and alcohol was a sure way to do so.

"Armageddon" Mr. Morales said and snapped her out of her thoughts. " _Yo, Glenn, Jacqui, Andrea y T-Dog va a la comida corre. Quieres unirte a nosotros?_ "

A supply run with almost half the group. _It must be a big supply run_ , she thought to herself and pursed her lips. She had noticed that the rations were becoming low, food and water and also clothing-wise, so maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. "No" She answered and shook her head. " _Gracias, sin embargo_."

She could see it in his eyes that he wanted her to come with them. She was a fast runner and good at handling walkers, and she and Glenn were the usual duo to go and fetch food for the group, so she wouldn't have been surprised if they had expected her to join them, and she would have if it were any other day and any other circumstances. She was just too depressed to get her head straight and in the game, so she knew her joining would just be a pointless suicide mission on her behalf and she didn't want to make them witness that.

Armageddon was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Merle's loud, bellowing laughter and foot steps approaching. He and Mac came over to the rest of the group and Mac took the can of water and drank it greedily. Armageddon caught the women glancing at him and the want in their eyes to tell him to stop, that everyone else was thirsty too, but no one dared. "What's for breakfast today?" Merle asked and looked over them. Armageddon avoided his gaze and tried her best to keep Mac out of her vision. Just his presence sent shivers down her spine and made her want to curl up in a ball. "What, cat got y'all's tongue?"

"There's nothing left" Andrea spoke up.

"Whaddya mean there's nothing left?" He ate up and glared at her.

"I mean, there is barely anything left of our food except for a can of mushrooms" She answered and before she even finished the sentence, Mac grabbed said can and opened it up. The plan had been to eat those mushrooms for dinner while the others were on the supply run, but did Mac care? Nope.

"So?" Merle said and thrust his hand into Mac's can before retrieving a few grey mushrooms.

"We're going on a run later" Mr. Morales said and met his eyes. He had an accent that wasn't as thick as his wife's, but he could not make himself sound completely American, no matter how much he tried. He knew the rednecks wouldn't take some spic like him seriously, so he thought making himself sound more like an American would get him taken more seriously. "And we'd need an extra pair of hands."

"Hell, I'll go with y'all" Merle said and threw his hands up in the air. "Got nothing better to do anyway."

Mac grunted something Armageddon didn't understand and Merle chuckled. Before she knew it, a hand gripped her shoulder and she could feel his hot breath on her skin. Her spine tingled and she got goosebumps all over her skin as time stopped. The only thing that existed was his hard grip on her and the fact that he had used that same grip to rape her in her sleep. She still couldn't remember, but that didn't mean it revolted her so much that her instincts told her to push him away and push hard.

"What the fuck?" Mac growled after almost tripping because of her. She was now on her feet and looking him in the eye, for the first time in a couple of days. There was a certain maliciousness in the blue that circled around the pupil that Armageddon once did not fear. But now, it gave her nightmares.

She couldn't speak. She was frozen in action as her mind played the scene of how she imagined he raped her. She imagined he had snuck into her tent one night, quietly zipped down her sleeping bag. He had stuck a hand under her panties and rubbed her until she got wet enough that he could just slide in. He had crawled on top of her and slowly, very gently, eased himself into her. He could not finish the job, otherwise she would wake up with his cum running between her legs, but he had done enough for the precum to be enough to get her pregnant.

As Armageddon envisioned how Mac got her pregnant, he strode up to her with a fist in the air and was about to throw it in her face when Daryl jumped in and stopped him. He pushed her away before pushing his older brother away as hard as he could. "Don't fucking touch her!" He roared before Mac could even comprehend what was happening.

"Calm down, brother" Merle said and tried to get in the middle of them. "Just because she's your bitch-"

"She's pregnant!"

Everything went quiet. All eyes fell on them before looking to Armageddon, who stood nearby. She had her back against Dale's RV; she could feel the ripples on the paint job of it and felt its warmth radiate to her. The air was so heavily silent that she could have cut it with a knife. Her secret was out there, out in the open. All thanks to Daryl, the only reason why the growing human inside her wasn't dead already. Merle and Mac turned from their younger brother and stared at her. She didn't meet their eyes. She didn't meet anyone's eyes but Daryl's, who flashed her an apologetic look.

She marched right up to him, walking past the other two Dixon brothers and pretended like they didn't exist. She shared one last look with Daryl as she stood right in front of him so that they were almost body-to-body. Then she slapped his cheek as hard as she could with the palm of her hand. It had been her first and only instinct. If it were anyone else, she would have punched them right in the nose. But, she was softer to Daryl.

Her whole hand stung after that slap and she imagined his face did too. His cheek got red and he looked away from her as he processed what had happened. She didn't give anyone a chance to express themselves on this situation, as she turned on her heel and marched right into the forest after that, going straight to her hiding spot.

Her secret was out there. Now, everyone knew that she was pregnant and she was pretty sure that no one believed Daryl was the actual father. She was sure every one of the group members knew it was Mac or assumed it was either his or Merle's. _They probably think I'm a slut. Their slut_ , she thought to herself and felt a tidal wave of anger and sadness wash over her. Tears ran down her cheeks and she cursed herself, blaming herself for the unwanted baby inside of her. She blamed herself for Mac forcing himself inside of her and impregnating her. She blamed herself even though she knew she ought not to because there was no way that this was her fault.

 _If only Con and Murph were here_ , she thought to herself and burst out crying. Now, sobs followed and she cried loudly and shook violently. She wanted her husbands. She desperately needed them. She either wanted them, or she wanted to die. There was no in between. She found no point in going on living in an apocalyptic world, carrying another man's baby. A man she did not even consent to having sex with.

Arms locked around her and Daryl's musk filled her nostril. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she dared not to open them to confirm whether it was him or someone else. It might have been a walker and she wouldn't have mind because then she could finally escape this hell. She fought weakly in his grip, but finally gave in and let him wrap his arms completely around her. She buried her face in his chest, her nose squished against his plaid sleeveless shirt and sobbed. She let herself believe that the person holding her was Con or Murph, only to calm her down, but it just made her feel worse.

"Fuck you!" She suddenly roared and pushed him away from her. "Fuck you for telling everybody!"

"I had to" Daryl reasoned.

"You didn't have to do shit!" Armageddon yelled and felt her fury override her sadness. "Now everyone knows and they think-" Her voice broke as she knew she was about to admit this out loud. "They know it's Mac's."

"No" He told her calmly and shook his head. "They think it's mine."

"No, they don't."

"Yeah, they do" He told her. "I promise you," He said softly and approached her, trying to meet her eyes, but she refused to look at him. "That no one thinks it's Mac's. Everyone knows you would never-"

"But, I didn't do anything" She cried and shook her head, sobs almost interfering with her words. "I didn't... _He_ did."

Instead of saying anything, Daryl just took her into his arms and let her cry her eyes out in his embrace. 

Half the group was gone for that supply run when Armageddon finally emerged from the forest. Daryl had gone before her and gone hunting, knowing that his hunting skills could be the only thing the group could consume while the rest were gathering proper food. Mac met her the second she came to camp and stood in front of her, blocking her way. She didn't want to meet his eyes, but glanced at him for barely a few seconds just to show that she wasn't afraid of him. When she did, he spoke up.

"I know Daryl ain't the father of your baby" He told her softly and stepped closer, so they were almost body to body. He leaned in closer so he could say his words quietly, but loud enough so that she and only she could hear them. "But, I'm gonna keep my mouth shut about it 'cause I'm not gonna be some bastard's dad."

"You're disgusting" She said fearlessly and met his eyes, locking contact. "And one day you will pay for everything you've done."

He chuckled under his breath, staring at her for a few more seconds before turning on his heel and sitting down on his usual spot; on the lawn chair in front of his tent. Armageddon was not in the mood to be so close to him, so she went to where she sat last and kept her back to Mac, so that she didn't have to look at him.

" _Es cierto, guapa?_ " Mrs. Morales asked and put her hand on Armageddon's shoulder, snapping the young woman out of her thoughts and back into reality.

She met her eyes and nodded. " _Si_."

Mrs. Morales said and made a cross over herself. " _Oi, dios mio_ "She said, shaking her head before meeting Armageddon's eyes again." _Eres_ _afortunado el padre es Daryl_. _Él es un hombre bueno, sin embargo_."

Armageddon looked the older woman in the eyes and mentally asked her if she was kidding. She had been so sure that it had been so obvious that Mac was the father, but now, as Mrs. Morales spoke, she seemed to believe that it was Daryl and not Mac. " _Supongo_ " She said shortly and shrugged.

Mrs. Morales was about to say more, but Lori cut her off and joined them. "You're pregnant?" She asked shocked.

"Yep."

"I thought you said you were married?"

"Don't you start" Armageddon said irritated. "You were too."

Lori knew she was right, so she did not comment more on that. "But, why?" Amy asked, joining them. She sat down beside Lori and furrowed her blonde brows at Armageddon.

"Why what?" Armageddon asked.

"Why did you have sex? With everything that's going on, that's just reckless-"

Armageddon had no desire to argue or snap, so she just stood up and left the women and the children that played around them. Carl, however, stopped when he saw Armageddon was leaving and followed her. "Hey."

"Hey, Carl."

"Is it true? What Daryl said?" He asked curiously.

"Yep."

"So, you have a baby in your stomach?"

"Yep."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Terrified" She told him and met the naive blue eyes of the ten year old.

"We'll be here for you" He assured her. "All of us. Shane and me will protect you and make sure that you'll be safe and the baby too."

Armageddon chuckled and found herself smiling genuinely at the kid. "Thank you, Carl, that means a lot to me" She said sincerely. "But, you know I can take care of myself."

"Not when you're all big and fat" Carl disagreed and pretended to have a large stomach, prancing around. "You'll need help when you're big like this."

Armageddon giggled. Lori called out for her son, telling him to come over to her. Armageddon knew that Lori didn't like her and didn't like her son being around her, just because of what she did to Andrea, and she didn't blame her. It was such a shame, however, that Carl seemed to like talking to her and ended up disobeying his mother's orders of staying away from her.

He looked over his shoulder to where his mother glared at him and pursed his lips. "I gotta go" He said with disappointment, meeting Armageddon's eyes.

"It's okay" She assured him. "Go, I'll be fine."

He took her word for it and ran over to his mom, who started scolding him for not listening to her. Carl objected, assuring her that Armageddon was nice and harmless, and Armageddon decided not to listen to more as she crawled into her tent with a small smile on her lips thanks to Carl.


	16. Coming Home

Coming Home

 **Season 1**

A whole day passed and the group that went on the supply run had not returned. Armageddon sat on top of Dale's RV with the older man's binoculars over her eyes, looking over the area. There was no one in sight, walker or human. It was a calm day and though people were hungry and tense, they seemed all right. Instead of sneering at her, like Armageddon had expected now that the news were out, everyone seemed supportive and helpful. Everyone talked to her and those who had already had children shared advice with her, and those who hadn't inquired curiously. After that talk with Mac, she felt less afraid of him and stronger; as if she could just resume being her older self where she could handle Mac's taunts and not be so terrified of him because of what happened. What happened had happened and she knew she couldn't let paranoia, depression or anxiety get in the way of life, especially in the zombie apocalypse. Emotional health didn't matter when it came to surviving in the apocalypse. She knew that sentence wasn't true, but she had believed it before, so she would have to believe it now and not let her feelings get the better of her.

"Hey" Shane said and stopped by the RV, snapping Armageddon out of her thoughts.

She put down the binoculars and met his brown eyes. "Hey."

"You okay up there?"

"This is the safest place and the easiest job I could have, pregnant or not" She assured him.

"Good" He chuckled.

"You know, I'm barely a month in the pregnancy, un-phased by any symptoms or hormonal changes, so you don't have to worry" She told him in a matter of fact tone and felt kind of patronized because of her unwanted pregnancy.

He chuckled again and ran his hand over his short, thick, pitch black hair, lines forming around his mouth as he grinned. She could see it in his blue eyes that he wanted to say more, but he chose not to. "Well, holler if you need anything."

"I will" She said and sat back in the blue deck chair, focusing on The Amityville Horror yet again. She was more than halfway done with it, probably had fifty pages left, and dreaded the end; not because Father Frank was her favorite character in the story and she was afraid that he was going to die, but because this was a good book that thrilled her and she didn't have many of those. She had stumbled upon a few cliche, romance novels that did not thrill her, even though she forced herself through thirty pages just to give them a chance, and she feared that those were going to be the only books she would be stuck with for a while. Armageddon liked to read, a lot, there was nothing better than to get lost in a new world while reality raged around her like the burning fires of hell. She loved thrillers, Stephen King especially, crime novels and books by authors like James Patterson and Dan Brown. Most of those were hard to come by, as people escaping and trying to survive the apocalypse thought nothing of good books. She knew Dale had some books inside his RV, but she didn't have the heart to inquire about it.

 _I'll check it out when I finish this one_ , she thought to herself and looked from the book and to her surroundings, checking for people - dead or alive. At first, she decided to do this every time she finished reading a page, but then, as nothing happened for ten pages straight, she reduced it to two. Sometimes she saw Daryl in the forest, out hunting squirrels and other small woodland creatures to feed the group.

She switched with Dale an hour later, letting him take watch while she could get back on the ground. She had finished the book and was tired of sitting there, staring up at the sky. It was a nice sky, though. The sun was up, eighty degrees and no cloud in sight. The only thing that reassured her that she was still in the apocalypse as she zoned in and out, was the lack of birds singing and chirping.

"Hey, you said you had some books in the RV, right?" Armageddon asked as Dale climbed up to take his shift.

"Yeah, I've got a couple" He answered and huffed. He was somewhere in his sixties, judging by the wrinkles and short, gray hair, and did not have the lung capacity to be climbing up that ladder. It was a short ladder, but he was an old man and his endurance was decreasing as the years went by.

"Do you mind if I look inside and maybe borrow one?" She asked and felt flustered about asking. Ever since that incident with Andrea, she felt like everyone in the group hated her, or at least were apprehensive of her. Those were just her insecurities, though, as no one showed any signs of that except for Lori, Amy and Andrea, of course. Armageddon was quite likable in the group, and everyone wanted to lend a helping hand to her now that they knew she was carrying a baby. "I just finished mine and I don't have anything to read anymore."

"Yeah, of course. Knock yourself out" Dale answered and nodded sincerely. "I have nothing to do with those books anyway. Take as many as you want."

"Thank you" She said and smiled brightly, grateful for his kindness and hopeful that he possessed something else than romance novels.

Dale had a few books, maybe five or seven. They were old cop thrillers, one James Bond book even, and Armageddon took that one first as she recognized both the author and the lead character. She had never read James Bond, only seen the movies, and was excited that she had hit the jackpot because it must have been well written and well done since Hollywood had made over twenty movies of the titular character.

The book was called _Casino Royale_ and it had a great beginning. Armageddon sat in the sun, close to Dale's RV and drank it up as she started reading. She tried blocking out Lori and Shane's conversation about eating frogs, but ended up wondering if they had been a thing before. The chemistry they shared was obvious, so was the way they looked at each other, and Armageddon wasn't surprised if the whole group knew of that love affair, even though she knew they were trying to keep it a secret. She knew Carl had no idea because he had once confessed that if his father wasn't going to come back ever, he would want Shane to come in his stead.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sounds of a car alarm. It was somewhere in the distance, but it was nearing them. She jumped to her feet, like everyone else, and shared a look with Shane before running over to Dale's to check out what was happening.

"A stolen car, is my guess" He said and watched intently through the binoculars. "Well I'll be damned."

"What?" Armageddon asked and furrowed her brows before climbing up to the RV with him. She saw a red sports car nearing them and recognized the driver's grinning face immediately; it was Glenn. "Where are the others?" She asked, but realized she was talking to herself as Dale had gone down to investigate what was going on.

Glenn parked the car by the RV, and did not shut down the alarm as he got out of the car. "Turn that damn thing off!" Shane yelled over the noise.

"Don't know how" Glenn told him.

Mac joined the shocked group and saw how he looked the car over. Maybe he was looking for his brother, maybe he wanted to steal it and make it his own. Armageddon never knew what was going on inside that head.

"Where's Andrea?" Amy asked as Jim turned the car alarm off by popping open the hood of the car and doing something to the engine. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine" Glenn assured her. "Everyone is," He announced and looked around. Armageddon noticed how his voice hesitated and how he avoided Mac's piercing eyes. "Well, except for, maybe, Merle."

"What?" Mac grunted. Armageddon climbed down the RV and saw Glenn backing away from him.

"You crazy coming here with this noise? Trying to attract every walker for miles?" Shane exclaimed in irritation.

"I think we're okay" Dale mumbled.

"You call being stupid, okay?" Shane asked him and raised his bushy, dark brows.

"Where's my brother?" Mac yelled out and grabbed Glenn by the neck of his shirt.

"He's-he's... uh" Glenn stuttered and squirmed in his grip before Shane pushed him off him.

"That's enough."

"No! You fuckin' tell me what happened or I'll send you straight to the geeks and let them eat you piece by piece!"

"We... we left him" Glenn confessed and looked down to the ground.

"Left him?" Mac ate up. "Where?"

"Up on a rooftop in Atlanta" Glenn told him. "Handcuffed."

"You're kidding?" Mac asked with a strangely calm voice and raised his brows at the Asian man.

"No."

Mac was about to pounce on him, but Shane had read his mind and gotten in the way before anything could happen.

Armageddon saw a van coming and pulled up by the end of the camp. Mr. Morales was the first to step out, much to Mrs. Morales' and their children's fortune. Then Andrea came out and Amy ran straight into her embrace. Jacqui. T-Dog. They were all there. Everyone smiled at the reunion and a part of her wished that Glenn had been kidding and that Merle was going to jump out of that van too. Not because she missed him or wanted to have him around, but because it would cause a riot between the Dixon brothers' and the rest of the group and because it was inhumane to just leave somebody alone like that in the apocalypse, no matter how much of an asshole that person was.

"How'd you guys make it out?" Dale asked as everyone filed in.

"The new guy" Glenn answered. "Helped us out."

"Yeah" Morales said with a big smile on his face before turning to the van. "Hey, helicopter man! Come say hello." He turned to Shane. "He's a cop. Just like you."

A man emerged from the driver's side of the van; five feet and ten inches, wearing a sheriff's uniform, short, dark brown hair, eyebrows down and a worrying look in his clear blue eyes. Shane's face lost all color as he saw him. Everything went quiet. Then Lori started gaping before Carl yelled out.

"Dad!"

The look on relief in the man's eyes and the tears that ran down Carl's face was like something out of a movie. The family was reunited. Daddy Grimes. As Armageddon watched the sheriff hug his son and wife, she couldn't help but look at Shane, who looked more than just disappointed. She had heard that Lori's husband and he had been close friends, and that was not a look of happiness or relief in Shane's eyes as he saw his close friend again. There was jealousy.

Mac did not bother Glenn or anyone else for the rest of the day. He kept away, disappearing to the woods or hanging around with Ed. It was a bad pairing when those two got together, twice it had happened that Sophia had to sleep in Armageddon's tent as Ed got aggressive to both her and his wife, Carol. Armageddon had become something of a caregiver to the younger girl after she had made her promise to always come straight to her if her father bothered her. She had promised the girl that she would keep her safe and Sophia held tightly on to that promise in her pre-adolescent hands, as barely anything assured her safety like Armageddon did. Tonight was no different as the two huddled in her tent after everyone went to bed. The sheriff, Rick, had told the group how he came to in a hospital somewhere outside of Atlanta and how he fought to get into that city, only to fight to get out of it once more, all the while holding tightly on to his wife and son.

As she lay there in the dark with Sophia cuddled up to her, she thought about the conversation she had had by the campfire. They were talking about how they were going to break the news to Daryl when Andrea chipped in with her wonderful opinions. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he would have gotten us all killed. And if Merle got left behind, it's nobody's fault but Merle's."

Armageddon did not doubt her words, she knew Merle and how he could be, but that still angered her. "Who makes you judge, jury and executioner?" She asked and met Andrea's eyes.

"Armageddon-" Dale started, but she cut him off.

"No" She said and stopped him, raising her palm in his direction, silencing him, all the while keeping her eye contact with Andrea steady. "Really. Merle was an asshole and I can imagine the situation you had been in, but what you did was not the answer. Leaving someone behind, handcuffed to a roof of a building that - you said - were full of walkers. Daryl's not going to be happy about this and Mac is furious. But, instead of thinking about who you angered by doing this, I hope you realized that what you did was inhumane."

"Are you defending him?"

"I am not Merle's number one fan" Armageddon told her and shook her head. "But, no matter if it was him you left behind or someone else - no, you wouldn't be having this conversation if it were somebody else because, what? You don't like the Dixons? You're no better than the dead." And by that, she stood up and left the group. She was in no mood of arguing, she just wanted to get her point across and leave everyone who justified what happened feeling guilty.

She fell asleep with that conversation swarming around in her head and hoped that Daryl didn't take the news too badly.


	17. Stand By Me

Stand By Me

Armageddon had been washing her clothes in a nearby lake when she heard the screams. Her first instinct was to drop the top she was soaking as it was clearly Sophia's screams and she was sure it was Ed that was making her scream. Then she heard Carl scream and saw a couple of group members running towards them, assuring her that if there was danger ahead, they would deal with it. That scream, though, had startled her and she bailed on finishing the laundry and, for some reason, wanted to stay nearer to the group if something were to happen.

She had just finished hanging her clothes up to dry when she heard Daryl's voice for the first time in almost twenty four hours. "Merle! Come over here!" He called out and glanced at Armageddon and Mac. "Got us some squirrels."

Oh no, She thought to herself and pursed her lips as Daryl put his crossbow down. She looked at Mac and was surprised that he hadn't done anything already. She waited for him to do something, but he just stood there and watched his youngest brother.

"Daryl, slow down a bit. I need to talk to you" Shane said, interrupting Daryl's search for his brother.

"About what?" Daryl huffed and met Shane's eyes.

"About Merle" He said and walked past him, glancing at Armageddon and Mac, who stood side by side and watched this go down silently. "There was, uh, a problem in Atlanta." Everyone in the group stood around and watched Daryl, waiting for his reaction and hoped it wouldn't be too bad. What Armageddon feared most was that Daryl and Mac would team up and beat the shit out of Shane, T-Dog, Rick and anyone else who had anything to do with this. And after that, the two would be banished from the group and she knew they would drag her pregnant ass with them.

Daryl glanced around, looking for answers in the people's faces before his facade dropped completely. "He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"Yeah, there is or there ain't."

Sheriff Rick butted in and ended up telling Daryl the news. Armageddon was surprised when Daryl reacted violently, cursing everyone around him, that Mac did not do anything. He just stood there, by her side and watched silently as Rick and T-Dog told him calmly what happened while Shane had him in a choke hold, both to calm him down and to keep him in check.

"Hey!" Armageddon called out and was about to step in the middle of them when Mac pushed her back. She whirled around and met his eyes only for him to shoot her a look to not get in the middle of this. He gripped her wrist tightly as she tried again and did not let go as Shane kept Daryl in that choke hold and Rick requested that they would have a civilized conversation about this.

"This is on me" T-Dog confessed to him. "I had the key. I dropped it." Mac's hold on Armageddon's wrist tightened as he heard those words.

"Couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked.

"I dropped it in the drain."

"So, it's your fault that they left him there?" Mac asked through gritted teeth and looked over to the dark-skinned man.

"Yeah" T-Dog answered and nodded curtly.

That was when Mac snapped, let go of Armageddon and jumped T-Dog. It took three guys to hold him back, but not before Mac had given him a hard blow to the jaw.

"Tell me where he is," Daryl said with tears in his eyes and fought hard to not let his voice break as all attention fell on him. "So, I can go get him."

"He'll show you" Lori answered and looked from Daryl and to her husband. "Ain't that right?"

"I'm going back" Rick announced with a sigh. That was when Lori left the audience and Daryl stormed off. Armageddon followed right behind him, silently, as she had no idea what to say to him.

He was behind his tent, wiping away the unwilling tears that he shed. Before she could say a word, Mac spoke up. "She stood up for him. Your bitch" He told him and pretended like he didn't notice Armageddon, who stood close by him.

"Don't call her that" Daryl grunted before glancing at Armageddon.

"Fine. Your baby mama stood up for our brother" Mac said and wrinkled his nose. "Last night, that bitch Andrea was going off on how it was okay for them to leave him there and she shut her up."

"That true?" Daryl asked and looked at her with big, tearful eyes.

"Yeah" She answered under her breath and nodded.

"I'm coming with you" Mac said and disrupted their eye contact, making his younger brother look at him. "To get him back."

Daryl nodded and then looked back to Armageddon. "You're staying here" He said - more like commanded. "You don't need the danger."

She shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "Not intending to."

"I didn't find you any books" He told her and pursed his lips. "I know you were about to be done with your last one, but I couldn't find anything but some squirrels and the dead."

"That's okay" Armageddon assured him. The way he said those words warmed her heart because she knew all he wanted to do was take care of her and make her happy. He did that by giving her his ration of food and water, and by telling her that she had been on his mind on this hunt and how he had remembered that she was finishing her latest book, so he felt the obligation to find her some more to keep her happy and distracted. "Dale had a few in his RV and let me borrow some."

They were back in the middle of the campsite when Shane started going off how Merle wasn't worth going back to save. Daryl voiced his disapproval, but Shane ignored him. Rick didn't care about Shane's words and told him that he was determined to go. That he couldn't let a man die, even though if the roles were reversed, Merle would not do the same for him. Armageddon knew that her speech last night had influenced that.

Lori asked if Rick was just going to go alone with the Dixon men to do this, and he turned to Glenn, who did not seem happy about being included. "You know the way. In-and-out. No problem, just like you said" Rick said and looked deeply into his eyes.

"Yeah, that was when it was just me and Armageddon" Glenn told him and pointed to the blonde, who stood nearby. "We're the fastest and we've gone on enough runs to know what we're doing. We're a two-person team, that was what I meant when I said that in Atlanta."

Rick looked from Glenn and to Armageddon, who he had not had a proper conversation with yet. "Are you Armageddon?" He asked her.

"Yeah" She answered and crossed her arms over her chest.

"She's not going" Daryl said before anyone could speak up.

"She's pregnant" Shane said quietly to Rick and both eyes fell on her. The way they looked at her and how Rick stopped looking at her as just another survivor and to a weak one with baggage, made her want to punch them both.

"That doesn't change anything" She said fiercely without thinking.

"Yeah, it does" Daryl said and met her eyes.

"I'm not some helpless-" She started and was about to argue when Rick broke it up.

"It's not yours to decide who comes and who doesn't," He said to Daryl before meeting Armageddon's eyes. "But, it would not be recommended."

"I never said I wanted to" She told him and shook her head. She wanted to explain herself more, assure them that she wasn't some damsel in distress just because she carried another life inside her, but she knew no one would listen, so she stormed off.

Armageddon chuckled as she watched Shane and Carl bustle in the lake, trying to catch some frogs. She had finished doing her laundry, but couldn't help but sit back and laugh as she watched the two. It was the closest thing she had to a sitcom, or a TV for that matter, and it brightened her dull mood.

"Can someone explain to me how the women ended up doing all the dirty work?" Jacqui said and snapped Armageddon's attention away from the boys and to the women who sat close by her and were doing their own laundry.

"The world ended, didn't you get the memo?" Amy answered.

"It's just the way it is" Carol said and glanced at Ed, who sat nearby on his truck and watched them.

"You don't have to be doing all that, y'know" Armageddon spoke up. "You could just stop doing this right now if you don't want to."

"Then who else is going to clean these clothes?" Jacqui answered with a question and a raised dark brow.

"There's your answer" Armageddon said shortly. "I don't mean to be rude and don't take this the wrong way, but you were the ones who decided this. Probably thought if you want to get things right, you gotta do it yourself. Or just to get to do something other than stare into the abyss and pray for a miracle. Honestly, it's not bad that you're doing everyone's laundry, but don't think that us women are stuck doing it or are because we were 'meant' to."

"Y'all _were_ meant to" Ed butted in with a grin on his face.

"Okay, and you were meant to go hunt us some food. Get a move on, asshole" Armageddon retorted, making the women laugh.

"You think that's funny?" He asked and stormed towards them.

Before anyone could say anything, he grabbed Carol and slapped her in the face. Armageddon jumped to her feet, her knife in her hand and had just thrown a punch his way, along with the other women who slapped and pushed him away, when Shane joined them. He grabbed Ed, threw him to the ground and beat the shit out of him, while Carol cried and begged him not to. The dependency she had for Ed, made Armageddon feel sorry for her, but she did not feel sorry for Ed as he got all bloody by Shane's fists.

"That was pretty harsh, for a policeman" Armageddon commented as he walked away and she followed him. He barely glanced at her. "Not saying, though, that that asshole didn't have that coming."

"Oh, yes, he did" Shane agreed.

"But," She said and stopped him in his steps. "Tone it down next time. Take it from someone that was shunned for doing what I thought was right."

She could see how he wanted to object her words, to tell her that that was different, but he chose not to and stormed off instead of saying anything else.

Armageddon had just settled back at the camp, _Casino Royale_ in hand and was learning more about James Bond, when Andrea snapped her back to reality. "Hey."

Armageddon met her eyes and saw that she was holding an orange soda. "Hey" She said and was surprised that she willingly came over to talk to her.

Andrea handed her the soda. "Truce?"

"Sure" Armageddon said and was more than relieved. She didn't want to have any tension in this group, as no one needed that, and was happy to be let off the hook. Of course, she didn't expect to be forgiven by Andrea for what she had done to her, but now, she was starting to think she did forgive her. She cracked open the soda, and even though it was warm, it tasted better than anything she had ever drunk in this world. "Sorry about what I did. I know I shouldn't have taken your words so harshly."

"No, no. It's okay. I shouldn't have said what I said" Andrea said and waved her hand dismissively. Armageddon pursed her lips and had another sip of that soda. "So, you and Daryl, huh?"

"Yup."

"And that's his baby you're carrying?" She asked and hesitantly met the girl's green eyes. Armageddon's only answer was a nod as she had downed the soda. "You know, no matter what anyone else thinks, I think you're the strongest person here."

Armageddon furrowed her brows at her. "Why?"

"It's not like you weren't strong when you came here. With the Dixon brothers and always so antagonized by them. But, you didn't let that affect you and kept on living as if the dead walking wasn't the scariest thing in the world."

"Oh, it affected me" She assured the older woman. Andrea was probably in her late twenties or early thirties, Armageddon couldn't tell.

"Well, you didn't show it" Andrea said and shook her head, sounding so astounded by her. "And now, on top of everything, you're carrying a baby! And still you seem unfazed."

Armageddon chuckled and crumbled the empty soda can. "Thank you" She said and met her eyes. "For what you said. It was exactly what I needed."

"Was that sarcasm?" Andrea asked hesitantly.

"No" Armageddon assured her. "Ever since you all found out I was pregnant, the public view changed of me. Now everyone just looks at me like I'm helpless, a damsel in distress that needs to be protected at all times. And I don't want to be that girl. I can take care of myself just fine."

"I know you can" Andrea said and flashed her a smile. "Don't worry, I'll tell the others if they say otherwise."

"You don't have to."

"But, I want to" Andrea said and stood up. "Us girls gotta stick together."

"True that."

A couple of hours later, Andrea and Amy returned with about a dozen fish. Everyone rejoiced, especially Armageddon, as she hadn't had fresh meat - except for squirrels - in a long time. Dale disrupted that, however with gloomy news. "We may have a problem."

"What's that?" Shane asked. Dale's answer was a point to the north, where they could see a small figure digging in the distance. It was Jim, a group member that was pretty handy.

After a bit of discussion, the whole group hiked up to go see Jim and find out what was happening. Armageddon knew it was something bad, she got a gut feeling the second she saw the hole Jim was digging.

Everyone started asking him what was going on and asking him to stop digging, but Jim was intent on continuing. He reasoned that he knew what was best for him and that he wasn't hurting anybody, plus he was far away so he wasn't bothering anyone neither. Armageddon would have wanted to leave him be, but she knew the group wouldn't so she stayed.

Jim was not happy about this and ended up throwing the shovel almost at Shane's head. Shane took the shovel away from him and threw him on the ground, with himself on top. He wasn't trying to hurt him, he was just trying to calm him down.

After tying Jim to a tree back at the base of the camp and cooling him from the sunstroke he apparently was experiencing, Shane finally let him go just in time for dinner, trusting that he wouldn't be acting up again. Armageddon dug in as much as she was allowed of the fish, as she was hungry and hadn't had a meal that well cooked before in a long time. She noticed also that the group gave her a bigger ration of the fish than anyone else's, and usually, she would have objected, but after that first helping, she just couldn't resist.

The wonderful dinner was disrupted by a scream. She looked behind her shoulder, to where the screams were coming from and saw Amy's arm being gnawed on by a walker. As if that wasn't enough, half a dozen of them roamed around them and were approaching her and the rest of the group. Everyone screamed and most of the group ran away, but a few, Shane and Armageddon included, stayed and were ready to fight them off. Instead of being careful and silent by using a knife, Shane decided to use the shotgun he had brought to this group as he killed them off one by one. Armageddon, seeing as she had no gun, ran up to one of them and drove the blade of her Swiss Army knife into its skull.

The rest of the group showed up out of nowhere - their timing impeccable if you asked Armageddon - and helped fight the dead. Andrea, however did not have a lot of fight in her as she watched her little sister get eaten alive. Nobody was silent, however, as even Daryl resorted to shooting the walkers with a gun than his crossbow. It worried Armageddon, but she had no time to think or worry, just watch out for herself and keep the dead at bay.

"Armageddon!" Daryl called out as he spotted her in the middle of pulling her knife out of a walker's skull. She heard one was approaching her from behind and tried her best to pull her knife out, but it was jammed in there.

He shot every zombie near her and, just as he did, she managed to get the knife loose. Instead of saying something about what she was doing, he just stayed close by her and shot at every dead thing approaching them.

Finally, the last walker fell dead to the ground and did not move again. Everything went silent and all Armageddon could think of was how Daryl's arm was wrapped around her. The only sounds that could be heard was Andrea's crying and Amy's whimpering.

She died soon after, leaving Andrea in even worse pain. Nobody slept that night. Everyone was in too much shock. Andrea stayed with her sister's body the whole time, never leaving her side. Daryl had lied beside Armageddon in her tent and went out every couple of hours to check if more walkers came back, but no more came. He was by her side like a guard dog. He didn't say a lot, still upset that Merle was gone and that they hadn't found him in Atlanta, yet he showed her a quiet support by his actions and the way he looked at her. If it were anyone else, Armageddon would have told them to fuck off, but she knew it wouldn't mean anything to Daryl. The second she told him about the baby inside of her, he had become her rock. Her protector, despite her wishes.

When daylight was upon them, Daryl immediately left the tent for good. Armageddon stayed for a little bit longer, trying to shut her eyes, but all she could see were those walkers and how close they had all been to dying. The group spent the day burning the dead and burying the ones that had been a part of that group, by Glenn's wishes. Nobody complained and everyone did their part. Armageddon spent the day on top of Dale's RV with his hat on her head - his wishes as he didn't want any more people with sunstroke in the group - doing nothing but watching out for walkers. She could not read, could not shift her attention to anything else as she was too tense about the ambush of yesterday.

Armageddon still hadn't started her period, she noticed as she looked down at her panties while doing her morning business. A part of her hoped every time she pulled down her underwear to check, that she would see blood. She didn't care if it was just a spot or if it were a puddle in her panties, she just prayed that her period would start so that she wouldn't be stuck with a baby in the apocalypse. It never did, though.

Daryl was not happy with the group, but he contributed. Another thing could be said of Mac, who sat in his lawn chair and watched the rest of the group. People tried getting him to butt in, but he ignored them. Still, they could not say anything because he was muscle when it came down to taking down walkers and he and Daryl had been the group's only source of food for a while. So, he got away with it.

Armageddon had just started to relax, some time during lunch, when Jacqui exclaimed that Jim had been bit. _That explains his digging for holes_ , she thought to herself and instinctively jumped to her feet. She wanted to kill him, drive a blade through his eye, just like with Amy, and she knew she wasn't the only one who wanted to.

The group gathered around and she knew they were discussing what to do with him. Armageddon had no desire in joining them as she was steadfast on staying on top of that RV and keeping watch. Not that anyone invited her to join. Daryl exclaimed something and started approaching Jim with his pickax, but was stopped by Rick and Shane, who were intent on finding a cure instead of putting him down.

People went back to their business; making sure the dead were incapacitated and disposing of them, and Armageddon turned around so she could now keep watch on what was behind her. She had settled into a deep stare at a particular spot in the woods when a gunshot snapped her back to reality. She whirled around, her knife in her hand, and saw that Andrea had just killed her little sister for good.

It was an emotional moment and the whole group went to go bury the rest of the dead, leaving Armageddon and Jim as they stayed in the RV. She could hear him moaning and mumbling to himself, mostly inaudible bullshit, but sometimes they were actual words.

"You okay, down there, Jim?" She asked as the mumbling increased and became louder.

"Yeah" He called out, thought not sounding really fine. As she had no intentions of leaving her spot, she took him for his word and hoped he wouldn't die and turn into a zombie anytime soon.

The group returned soon enough and Dale offered to take her place. "It's not good for you to sit up here so close to the sun."

"No offense, Dale. But I like it better up here than down there" She answered and barely glanced at him.

"Are you sure?" He asked and put his hand on her shoulder.

She put the binoculars down and nodded, flashing him a quick smile. "Yeah."

"Okay. If you want to change, I'll be there" He told her sincerely and they shared a look before he turned on his back and climbed back down the ladder of the RV.

Armageddon had barely gotten herself settled again when someone else climbed up and joined her. This time it was Daryl. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. Are you?"

"Yeah."

"Everyone dead and buried?"

"Yup" He answered and inhaled deeply. "That hat suits you."

She chuckled dryly and met his eyes. "I look like I'm going fishing with a bunch of old dudes."

He chuckled also and she knew it was faked. "You mind if I sit?" He asked after a little while of silence.

"Yeah, sure" She said before flashing him an apologetic look. "I'd offer you a chair, but there's only one."

"No need" He said and waved his hand dismissively before sitting down beside her, on the roof of the RV. "You need it more than I do."

"You know, that baby isn't even a baby yet" She told him and shook her head after some time of thinking and staring up at the sky. She met his eyes. "It won't be for a couple of months, which means that I'm just as normal as any other woman until then. I've heard that women don't experience symptoms until their second or third month into the pregnancy. So I don't _need_ this chair more than you do, just like I don't _need_ a bigger portion of food because I'm not eating for two yet."

"You're right" He said and nodded. "That don't mean that everyone wants to help you."

"I don't need help."

"Just 'cause you don't want it, don't mean you don't need it."

"Bullshit."

"Maybe not now" He continued and looked away, gazing over the woods. "But at times like yesterday and in the future, when you'll be all big and stuff, not being able to walk on your own'll be different. I've seen lots of pregnant women and they all need help. Especially now that the dead's walking."

She pursed her lips and put the binoculars by her eyes again, checking thoroughly over the woods instead of replying to that.

Later that day, Shane announced that they were leaving. Rick wanted to go to the CDC, so that's their next destination. Armageddon didn't mind or object, frankly she was happy that they were leaving this place. This campsite, that had once been her sanctuary, her home, was now only a place of fear and bad memories. She had expected Daryl and Mac to object, that Merle knew where to find them if they stayed, not if they left, but neither said a thing. Mac got quieter, she noticed, quieter than usual. Maybe it was because Merle and Ed were the only people he actually conversed with, or maybe there was a more sinister reason that she didn't know. She tried not to think about it, or Mac at all, but it was difficult as he was always there, lurking in the camp. She could feel his eyes boring into her more often than not, and she hoped that with Daryl by her side that she was less at risk to get raped or attacked in any other way by him. The thought of leaving gave her hope.

 _Maybe the CDC has found a cure for all of this._

 _Maybe there will be doctors there to help me abort this baby._


	18. Quarantine

Quarantine

The worst thing about leaving was the fact that the Morales family was not coming with them. They wanted to go to Alabama and find their family there. " _Usted puede va con nosotros_ " Mr. Morales said to Armageddon and grabbed her hand. She could feel the whole family looking at her with begging eyes. She had really started to care for the Morales family, the whole lot of them, and she appreciated their offer, but she couldn't say yes.

" _Por favor_ " Mrs. Morales begged. " _Vas a ser más seguro con nosotros que con aquellos hombres_."

" _Gracias. Mucho gracias para todo, pero yo puedo cuida de mí_ " Armageddon assured them.

" _Y el bebé_?"

" _Si. Yo estáran bien, no te preocupes_."

Mrs. Morales took her into his embrace and hugged her tightly before her husband and their children joined in on the hug. When they let go of her, they said goodbye to the rest of the group.

"What was that?" Mac asked as they watched the Morales family leave. Everyone was filing into their cars, the two Dixon brothers and Armageddon going into Mac's red pickup truck.

"What?" Armageddon asked as she realized Mac was talking to her and not his little brother, who sat between them in the front seat of the pickup. They were the last to leave the campsite and followed behind Shane's dune buggy.

"The spics. What did they want?"

"Why do you care?"

"'Cause I do. What were they saying?"

Armageddon sighed and looked out the window. "They were just saying goodbye."

"It didn't sound like that. 'Twas like they were asking you of somethin'" Mac commented and she could feel his eyes on her.

"If you already know what was going down, then why are you asking?"

"I don't speak Mexican."

"Spanish" She corrected him.

"Whatever."

"They wanted me to come with them."

"Why?" Daryl asked and looked her way.

"I don't know."

"Yeah, you do" Mac insisted.

"I don't" She retorted. "Maybe 'cause I'm pregnant."

Mac scoffed and Daryl sighed.

Dale's RV broke down an hour later, making everybody come to a stop. Something about a hose inside of it was the cause of the problem, but Armageddon, who knew very little of cars, had no idea what it was and didn't really care. She was happy to get out of Mac's truck and stretch her legs, putting some distance between her and the guy who had impregnated her against her will. Jim was getting worse, much worse. The fever was getting to him bad and he seemed more out of this world than in. But, in a state of tranquility, he had only one favor to ask of Rick - of the group; that they would carry on and leave him there. He did not want to be on the road any longer, he just wanted some peace before he inevitably left this world, and seeing as that were the last wishes of a dying man, nobody could deny him that.

They made it back on the road. Somehow, they managed to fix the hose in the RV and continued to the city, towards the CDC. They didn't arrive until a little before dark. The surroundings of the CDC was a military graveyard. Rotting bodies were scattered everywhere and there were countless flies swarming around, picking at the flesh. Armageddon had not felt that sick to her stomach since she got the flu last year, but seeing all of this - the smell of decay - made her want to retch, but willed herself to keep it down because the pregnant woman suddenly vomiting was the last thing the group needed at that moment.

Daryl grabbed her hand and held onto it as they made their way to the CDC headquarters. She hoped that the bodies they trailed past would stay dead and not grab any one of them as they made their way past them.

But, the headquarters were locked. Rick and Shane tried to open it and find a way in, but the doors were sealed shut. It was a dead end and they had no gas to get them anywhere else or any food to get them through the night. Quarrel broke out among the group members as this fact hit them. Rick was determined to get inside, that someone was inside the headquarters, but the others just wanted to get away.

Daryl was about to drag Armageddon into Mac's pickup truck, his left hand clutching hers while his right held a gun and pointed it to a walker that approached them, when a bright light stopped them. It was so bright that it blinded them. Armageddon, dumbstruck with these sudden events mindlessly yelled out the first thing that popped into her head. " _Phenomenon_!"

The light faded immediately and she felt so stupid for having been so loud, but no one seemed to have heard her. Everyone was so shocked at what had happened that they paid no mind to her. Inside was completely empty and when the last people had filed in, the doors closed and locked behind them. "Hello?" Rick called out and waved his gun around as he checked for walkers and any other signs of life. "Hello?"

He was answered by a gun cocking. Everyone turned to the sound and saw a red haired man in his forties aiming a shotgun at Rick. "Anybody infected?" He yelled out.

"One of our group members was. He didn't make it" Rick answered.

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days" The man said and slowly approached them.

"I know."

He took a few steps towards them, looking every terrified group member thoroughly over. "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

"We can do that" Rick said and nodded.

On their way down to the underground to the main station, Armageddon reminisced of her late husbands and the times they spent watching endless amount of movies.

 _"I still don't get it" Murph said and shook his head._

 _"What's there not to get?" Con asked and raised a brow, his mouth full of popcorn. They had just finished the movie and somehow there was still enough popcorn left to munch on._

 _"I mean, John Travolta gets all these powers from some random bright light in the sky - aliens - and then you're telling me that it's just a brain tumor?"_

 _"They did fall pretty short. Just ending the movie with an excuse like that and killing the character off instead of doing some real great things" Armageddon agreed. "But,_ but _, we were already an hour and a half in when everything started becoming real weird and they couldn't have made a three hour movie about him discovering aliens and learning more about his abilities, so they probably had to do something to end it. Not saying it was a good idea. The movie could have been so much better if they had just thought things through and not winged it."_

 _"Aye."_

Armageddon was snapped out of her thoughts as the elevator came to a stop and everyone filed out. She now knew the reason why she had screamed out so randomly; the bright light from the CDC reminded her of a scene in the movie _Phenomenon_ ; a film which she had watched with Con and Murph probably ten years ago. She really thought she had forgotten it, but as these events happened, she couldn't help but get flashbacks of that movie and the time she watched it with her husbands.

"Vi, bring up the lights" Dr. Edwin Jenner said as they walked into a dark room. The lights suddenly turned on and to reveal endless rows of computers and other things that Armageddon expected to see in places like the CDC or NASA.

"Where are the others?" Rick asked as he looked around, searching for the rest of the doctors and staff.

"I'm it" Dr. Jenner answered. "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked dubiously and raised a brow.

Instead of answering, Dr. Jenner said to no one in particular; "Vi, say hello to the guests. Tell them: welcome."

"Hello, guests. Welcome" A robotic female voice sounded off.

Armageddon felt a chill run down her spine and a smile spreading on her lips. "Woah, you got something like HAL 9000, here?" She asked and started roaming around. " _I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that_." She said, quoting the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and chuckled to herself.

"I'm all that's left" Dr. Jenner said and pretended like he didn't hear the cinefile. "I'm sorry."

"So, this Vi. She's an A.I. or something?" Armageddon asked as Dr. Jenner took a sample of her blood.

"Something like that" He answered and seemed very focused on what he was doing.

"Has it ever make you think that," She lowered her voice and met his eyes. "Maybe A.I.'s like Vi could have been the ones that started this virus to wipe out humanity? Like in _The Terminator_ but without the robots actually taking over and terminating us?"

"You've seen too many movies" Dr. Jenner chuckled and shook his head.

Armageddon chuckled too and met Daryl's eyes. He refused to leave her side and wanted to keep her in his sight at all times. Right now, however, as the doctor poked her with needles and inspected her, she wished he didn't so she could get down to business. Not that it mattered, since the rest of the group stayed close behind and all in the same room, watching every person get tested.

"Did you quote _A Space Odyssey_ earlier?" Dale asked Armageddon as she stood up and went back to the group.

"Yeah" She said and laughed.

"It's somewhat a favorite of mine" He told her and a grin spread on her face. "Honestly, I was surprised since most kids your age don't know it exists."

"It's a classic and one of those movies every movie nerd must see once or twice" She told him and shrugged. "I only know two other people my age that have seen this movie, so you're absolutely right. My generation is obsessed with mindless action and romance movies."

When everyone finished getting their blood tested, Dr. Jenner invited them to a dinner feast. The food was dry, something you would expect NASA to feed astronauts whilst in space, but it was food, and for the starving group, it was more than enough. He also had enough of good-brand wine that Armageddon managed to sneak a glass of. It was amazing. Everyone laughed and smiled and talked as if they were at a family dinner party and the constant fear of getting eaten alive by walkers completely disappeared. Mac did not join this happy festive. He had taken one look at the wine, stolen a bottle and disappeared to be alone with himself. No one complained. Even Lori managed to loosen up enough to let Carl have his first sip of wine. The young kid grimaced and spit it out the second the liquid hit his lips, suffice to say, he did not have any more that night.

"So, Rick, what kind of cop were you? Were you like Mel Gibson in _Lethal Weapon_ or more like Denzel Washington in _Training Day_?" Armageddon asked with a smile on her face, making both Shane and Rick laugh wholeheartedly.

"Neither. He wasn't that cool" Shane told her.

"He's right. I was more like Nick Nolte in 48 Hours before Eddie Murphy showed up" Rick told her and they all laughed. "Shane was more like Martin Riggs in _Lethal Weapon_."

"Damn straight."

In the midst of all of this, a hand tapped Armageddon's shoulder and snapped her out of the conversation she was having with Rick and Shane. She looked behind her shoulder and saw it was Dr. Jenner with a quite somber face. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He whispered in her ear.

"Yeah, sure" She nodded and stood up before following him into another room where they could talk in private.

"Are you aware that you're pregnant?" He asked and wasted no time getting to the point.

Armageddon sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I am" She answered and pursed her lips. "I actually have a favor of you to ask since you already know."

"I'm sorry, I don't have the equipment for a sonar" He told her before she could get to the request that had been lying on her lips since he announced that he was a doctor.

"That's not what I was going to ask of you" She said quietly and shook her head a little bit. Before she could say more, there was a knock on the door and Daryl's head popped in.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked and glanced from her to the doctor and then her again.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Daryl" Armageddon answered and wished with as much desire as she could muster that he would just leave and let her be alone. He had prevented her from aborting this baby the second she realized she was pregnant back at her hiding spot by the camp and had convinced her to keep it, but he was not going to interfere with this any longer. This was her decision and hers alone.

"What are you doing?" He asked and came into the room completely, closing the door behind him.

"Is he the father?" Dr. Jenner asked and looked from her and to him.

"Could you please just-" Armageddon started but was interrupted.

"Congratulations... Or, I'm sorry. I don't know which to say in times like these" Dr. Jenner continued and shook Daryl's hand. "You're gonna be a father."

Daryl shared a look with Armageddon before answering him. "Yeah, I know. Thanks."

"Daryl, could you please leave us be?" Armageddon pleaded, shifting the men's attention to her. "Please?"

He looked her over and pursed his lips before ultimately nodding and leaving the room. When he closed the door behind him, she spoke up and finally said the actual words. "I don't want this baby."

"That's understandable" Dr. Jenner said with compassion.

"And you're a doctor so I was thinking if you could help me abort it."

Dr. Jenner's face dropped and he looked away instead of answering her. "I'm not that kind of a doctor" He told her with his back turned to her and shook his head. "I know nothing of the medical field."

"Well, you must know something since you have a doctorate. Why else would you call yourself a doctor?"

"Scientists are called doctors" He reasoned and met her eyes again.

"Yes, and I'm asking you as a scientist with a lot of college education and dissecting frogs and other little creatures behind you to do me this favor" Armageddon answered. "I know this is asking you a lot, and this group has already asked so much of you-"

"Yes, but you don't understand-" He started, but she cut him off.

"I do! I know you're not an actual doctor who worked in a hospital and had patients, but I'm still asking for your help."

"Why? Why do you think I can help?"

"Because no one else will" She answered in desperation and tears welled in her eyes. "You know how the world is, it's not fit for children or pregnant women. It's a death sentence and nobody deserves that."

"I'm sorry" He said and shook his head again. "I can't help you."

She stared deeply into his eyes and let a lone tear run down her cheek as she mentally begged him to change his mind. But, after a minute or two passed by and he didn't say anything else but 'sorry', Armageddon finally wiped her cheeks and stormed away. She joined the dinner table with a fake smile plastered on her face and pretended like everything was okay. _I'm doomed_.

"Most of the facility powered down. So, you have to make do here" Dr. Jenner told the group as he escorted them to where they would be staying. Some lights flickered in the ceiling, but Armageddon didn't complain as it was the most electricity as she had seen in a long while. "Couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like." But, what he had that shocked Armageddon the most wasn't the lights - flickering or not - it was the fact that he had a recreational room and hot showers, something she thought she would never use again.

"Hot water?" Glenn repeated with big eyes and a smile on his face.

"That's what the man said" T-Dog said and returned the smile.

After that tense and disappointing conversation with the doctor, and all those sweaty, hot days out in the sun, Armageddon was thrilled to finally soak herself in clean, fresh, warm water as she stepped under the faucet. Carol had taken her clothes as she was going to launder everything and give everyone fresh, clean clothes after they would get out of the showers. They would finally be clean, a first for months.

She spent a long time under the water, just staring at the gray, tiled floor as the water rained over her. She thought of so many things; of the past, her husbands, of Mac and what he had done to her, of Daryl and his optimism towards this baby, the baby inside of her and what Dr. Jenner had said to her half an hour ago. All of that and so much more raced through her mind and ultimately she had to snap herself out of that as her feet got numb and she got self-conscious. There was a limit of using the hot water and she didn't want to spoil for everyone, even though no one would complain and say it was okay since she was pregnant.

She opened the door with only a towel covering her naked body, but could barely open it a few inches as something was in the way. She tried again and this time, the person moved out of the way and she saw it was Daryl. "Oh, sorry for taking so long" She said and felt even more flustered for have forgotten herself and time by getting lost in her own thoughts in the shower.

"It's okay" He told her with a reassuring tone.

"Here, you can use it now. I'm all done" She told him and walked out of the bathroom, her feet immediately getting cold as the floor was much colder in the hallway than the bathroom. She also got goosebumps as she left the humid atmosphere and returned to normal room temperature.

"I don't need to" He said.

"Then why were you standing there?"

"Doesn't matter" He said dismissively and took off his jacket before wrapping it around her shoulders. "Come on, I got the doc to hook you up with a room for yourself that has a bed and everythin'."

Armageddon realized as Daryl walked her to a small room, where a small bed with plain, grey sheets and a woolen blanket awaited her, that the reason he had stood so close by the bathroom was not for his own sake, but hers. He had been protecting her and probably from Mac.

"I'll leave you alone now" He said and was about to turn around, but she stopped him and grabbed his arm.

"Could you stay?" She asked and didn't even realize what she was saying until the words left her lips. "Keep me company?"

His answer was a nod.

Carol soon returned with clean clothes and both she and Daryl left the room so Armageddon could change clothes in peace. After that, she went to the rec room where Carl and Sophia were and joined them in darts and taught them how to play easy poker.

"Hey," Lori said as Carl won the round. "What'chu doing?"

"Armageddon's teaching us how to play poker" Carl answered with a smile on his face. "And I just won!"

"That's great, honey!" Lori said and kissed his son on his head. The shower, wine and food really agreed with her. She was now less tense and didn't seem to have a problem with anybody, and in Armageddon's opinion, that was great. "Do you mind if you and Sophia continue on your own, though? I need to have a talk with Armageddon."

Carl and Sophia both looked at Armageddon, who winked at them both before standing up and following Lori out the door. Dale greeted them in the hallway. "What's up?" She asked as she looked from Carl's mother and to the old man.

"We need you to talk to Andrea" Lori said soberly.

"She's in a really dark place and she really needs to talk to someone" Dale concurred.

"Why are you telling me this?" Armageddon asked and furrowed her brows. "I'm probably the last person she wants to talk to right now."

"Well, you did say you took psychology in college" Dale answered and was about to go on, but she interrupted him.

"Yeah, I took a few classes, but that doesn't qualify me as a shrink" She reasoned and gnawed on her lip.

"You're the best we've got" Lori told her and put her hand on Armageddon's forearm. "Please, I've seen how you are with the kids. You're their confidant. You could be that for Andrea too."

"I'm sorry-" She started but they both cut her off.

"Please," Dale begged.

"Just give it a try" Lori pleaded from the bottom of her heart.

Armageddon sighed and looked from her and to Dale, waiting for them to change their minds about this, but they didn't so she let them point her into the direction of where Andrea was staying. She sat alone in the dark and immediately asked to be left alone when Armageddon came in.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure" Andrea said and Armageddon heard how close her voice was to breaking.

"I know this is the last thing you want to hear, especially from me, but, if you want to talk, I've been told I'm a good listener and I know how to keep my mouth shut" She told her sincerely.

"You're right, that was the last thing I wanted to hear" Andrea nodded before looking up and meeting her eyes in the dark. Armageddon had gotten used to it and now saw almost her every detail and not just her shape and silhouette. "You don't have to do this. I know Dale sent you here in hopes to help me feel better, but it won't work. I will never feel better."

"No, you probably never will" Armageddon agreed. "I've heard it gets easier to deal with the pain, but it will always be there. I don't know exactly how you're feeling, but I haven't seen my husbands since before the apocalypse and I have to get used to the fact that I never will. You, at least, got closure, even though you might not think that that's such a good thing."

Andrea pursed her lips and looked away. When Armageddon was sure she wasn't going to speak up, she continued. "My husbands were my best friends. We met when we were barely teens and immediately became inseparable" She told her and felt a wave of sorrow wash over her as she reminisced about them. "We had been together for nine years, ten in the end of September. They became my whole life as I spent all of my time with them, you see, my mom was a junkie and her living environment was never happy or stable, so I was with them for as long as I could and avoided her as much as I could. Their mother felt sorry for me and practically took me in the last few years I lived in Ireland and then as soon as I graduated secondary school, Con, Murph and I started renting our first apartment."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Andrea asked and furrowed her brows.

"With everything that's going on and after everything we've all gone through, I think it's valuable to think of the past, but not dwell on it. We need it to hold on to hope because that's the only thing that drives our survival instincts. We need hope to keep on going, to believe that there's something good in store for the future."

"Do you?" Andrea asked and stared at her in the dark.

"No."

"Then why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I've been saying this to myself for a while now and I know you need to hear this too."

"Does it work?"

"Not really" Armageddon admitted and sat down beside her in the dark, hugging her knees to her chest. "That's where the 'hope part' begins. I'm still waiting for shit to get better or to eventually die."

Andrea sighed and kept quiet for a log time before she spoke up. "What about the baby?"

"What about it?"

"Aren't you afraid of dying because you have it?"

"I never wanted this baby in the first place" She told her and shook her head.

"Oh" Andrea said quietly.

Armageddon knew that in her time of misery, shared with Andrea, she could get a positive answer from the woman if she asked her to help abort her baby. But, as she was there to try to make Andrea feel better and not to act out on her own selfish reasons, she pushed the thought away and focused on something else.

Armageddon found Daryl by the room that Dr. Jenner had provided her and pondered if he was waiting for her or if he was standing guard. "Hey" She said as she approached him.

"Hey" He grunted and pushed himself off the door that he was leaning against.

He followed her into the room and sat down on the floor beside the corner as she lay down on it and got herself comfortable. "Where will you be sleeping tonight?" She asked him and pulled the sheets practically over her head.

"Here, if ya don't mind."

"No, I don't mind" She told him nonchalantly. "But I do mind if you sleep on the floor."

"There's no other place to sleep" He told her.

Instead of replying, Armageddon made space on the cot and patted it, mentally telling him to come over. Daryl reluctantly stood up and sat down on the empty space, meeting her eyes hesitantly as he was sure she was going to change her mind. When she didn't and assured him that it was okay, he lay down beside her.

Daryl was warm and even though he tried his best not to make any physical contact, she could feel his warmth radiate to her and feel his tense muscles as she brushed against him. It was a small cot, smaller than a single bed, so whether he liked it or not, they had to huddle up together if they didn't want to fall off the cot. Armageddon had known that he would have stayed with her all night and as she felt herself grow closer and closer to him, she had allowed him to sleep beside her. Not in a romantic way, but in a polite way. Also because she was lonely and she knew that if she closed her eyes, she could pretend that it was Con or Murph who slept beside her. It was both a way to make herself feel better and also to sleep properly as she hadn't slept alone in over ten years and it had become very uncomfortable.

She slept well and even dreamt well, a first for a long time. Because Daryl had drunk so much, he slept longer and did not wake up at dawn like he usually did, and Armageddon even managed to wake up before him. She had no idea what time it was when she opened her eyes and she even believed for a few seconds that she was at home and that the body next to her was one of her husbands. She felt the usual sorrow wash over her as she realized it was not who she hoped it was and saw Daryl sleeping soundly. She had to admit, he was kind of cute.

Everyone was at the dining room eating breakfast, hungover and hungry. "Eggs. Powdered, but I do 'em good" T-Dog said and brought a pan filled with scrambled eggs to the table. Carl patted to the seat next to him and told her to sit there and as she sat down, Sheriff Grimes joined the table as well, clearly hungover.

T-Dog flashed her a smile as he started off by giving her and she noticed as he gave everyone else that he did give her noticeably more than everyone else. Glenn groaned and seemed to be in the worst condition of hungover out of everyone at the table, while Lori handed out vitamins for everyone, recommending them especially to Armageddon because of the pregnancy.

Shane soon entered the dining room as well and had a cut on his neck that he explained he got from his sleep. Armageddon noticed that there was some thick tension between him and Lori and she guessed that it may have been her who gave him that cut, judging from her panicky eyes that avoided Shane's. She knew that look in her eyes because she had often had it herself with Mac after a rough time. Speaking of Mac, as she looked around the room she could see that few people were missing; Daryl, who was still asleep and his brother Mac, who was god knows where. She had not seen him at all since he made himself disappear last night and was so relieved to get a little break from the man who had impregnated her and completely ruined her life against her will.

"Doc, I don't mean to slam you with questions on the first day-" Dale started as Dr. Jenner walked in. Daryl followed right behind and met Armageddon's eyes immediately.

"But, you will anyway" Dr. Jenner said and chuckled dryly.

"We didn't come here for the eggs" Andrea said and met his eyes.

He pursed his lips and looked away before telling them all to follow him. They went to the room with all the computers and told Vi to play them a video of something called 'TS-19'. The video was of a human who had gotten bitten and infected. It was like an X-ray of the brain and showed how the brain stems showed the signs of life and then it showed how the infection killed said brain, before some lights went on the brain, but much darker than before.

"It's dead?" Rick asked and took a step closer to the monitor that displayed all of this.

"You tell me" Dr. Jenner said.

Rick shook his head and pursed his lips. "It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part; the _you_. That doesn't come back" He told him and the rest of the group soberly. "Just a shell, a mindless instinct."

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked after he turned the monitor off.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal-"

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui interrupted.

Armageddon snorted. "There is no God" She looked from her and felt everyone's eyes on her and felt flustered. "Thought you guys would've known that by now."

"Somebody must know something" Andrea exclaimed. "Somebody, somewhere."

"There are others?" Carol inquired. "Other facilities?"

"There might be some," Jenner answered and paused. "People like me."

"You don't know?" Rick asked shocked. "How can you not know?"

"Everything went down; communications, directives, all of it" Jenner answered nonchalantly. He did not seem very fazed by the looming fact that he could be the only one left with any sorts of answers. "I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So, it's not just here?" Andrea asked. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"

When Jenner did not answer, everyone reacted in their own way. Armageddon heard sighs and even sobs, but she made no sounds. The second she knew she was stuck with the Dixon brothers in the apocalypse, she knew that there was no getting better. Sure, she tried to convince herself that there always was hope, that something good may just be lurking right around the corner, but her common sense and depression told her that there was no good lurking anywhere in this world. It had been eaten alive just like the millions of people who became victims of the walking dead.

Daryl snapped her out of her thoughts by leaving her side. "Man, I'mma get shitfaced drunk. Again" He mumbled and rubbed his eyes. She followed him with her eyes and longed to do the same, but knew no one would let her near the alcohol if she tried. Everyone cared about the baby inside her, except she.

"Doctor Jenner, I know this must have been hard on you and I hate to ask one more question," Dale said and focused his attention on something else than the doctor or the monitor they had just been watching. "But, that clock," He said and pointed to an electronic clock that hung off one of the walls. It displayed one hour and two minutes and was counting down from that. "It's counting down to something. What happens at zero?"

Now that he had asked, everyone's attention shifted to that clock and that question entered everybody's minds. Armageddon's first thought was _destruction,_ and as soon as that thought entered her head, the doc spoke up. "The basement generators run out of fuel."

It sounded like a weak-ass lie to her, but she said nothing. "And then?" Rick asked him. When Doctor Jenner did not answer, he took it upon himself to ask the A.I. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur" Vi answered with her nonchalant robotic voice that still sent a chill down Armageddon's spine. Not just her voice, but also her words as it was a confirmation of what she had just thought.

"What do you think that means? Decontamination will occur?" Daryl asked Armageddon as they walked out of the computer room.

"The fuck's goin' on?" Mac asked and appeared behind them, startling Armageddon, though she tried her best not to show it.

"I'm pretty sure that's when shit's gonna hit the fan" She answered and hurried her pace so she could get away from Mac.

The lights started going off and soon the air conditioning shut down too. Doctor Jenner was out and about in the corridor and everyone was raining questions on him.

"It's not up to me" He answered shortly about the electricity shutting down. "Everything's shutting itself down."

"Hey!" Daryl called out and followed after him, just like the rest of the group. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" When Jenner did not answer, he picked up his pace. "Hey, man, I'm talkin' to you. Whadd'you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised" Jenner answered.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked and walked up to the scientist.

"The system's dropping all the nonessential power. It's designed to keep the computers running until the last absolute second. It starts as we approach the half-hour mark" He answered before looking at the ominous clock that kept on counting down. It was now at thirty one minutes. "Right on schedule."

After some time of quarreling among the group and with Jenner, Rick had had enough. "Lori, get our things, we're going out. _Now_!"

Everyone was just starting to file out when sirens started blasting all around. "What's that?"

"Thirty minutes to decontamination" Vi's electronic voice told them.

They were about to hurry the fuck out when steel doors from all around sealed them in, closing every possible exit. Armageddon was in such a state of shock that she had no idea what to do or how to react, but a small part of her was calm, relieved. Because that small part of her had been longing death ever since this shit hit and she knew that the end was coming up. She would soon be relieved of this disgusting world.

"Did you just lock us in? _He just locked us in_!" Glenn screamed out and started to panic.

Daryl took one look at Armageddon and met her eyes before he turned to the doc. "You son of a bitch! You locked us in!" He exclaimed and was about to attack him with the liquor bottle when T-Dog, Shane and Rick grabbed him and held him back. "I'll kill ya!"

"Hey, Jenner, open the door, now" Rick demanded and approached him as the doc sat by one of the computers.

"There's no point. The doors are all locked" Jenner answered. "Emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn thing!"

"That's not something I control. The computers do."

The scene Armageddon quoted from 2001: A Space Odyssey where HAL 9000 takes control of the ship played in her head, but this time she refrained herself from actually the saying the words out loud because it was eerily similar to the movie. Instead, she felt Daryl's hand lock around hers and his anxiety for death radiate to her. She knew that the reason why he was so anxious was not because _he_ was going to die, but because the baby inside of her was.

"I told you," The doctor said. " _Once the doors closed behind you, they wouldn't open again._ You heard me say that. It's better this way."

"What is?" Rick asked. "What happens in twenty eight minutes? _What happens in twenty eight minutes?_ "

" _You know what this place is?_ " Jenner snapped and jumped to his feet. Daryl hurried to Armageddon and stood protectively by her, as if he thought that the crazed doctor would target her for some reason. " _We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized small pocks and Ebola that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out ever!_ " Jenner stopped, took a breath and then sat back down before fixing himself. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure - a terrorist attack for example - H.I.T. is organized to keep everything sealed."

"H.I.T.?" Rick repeated.

Vi answered that question and described an explosion that resembled a nuclear explosion. Armageddon's face lost all color as she heard those words but she was not afraid. She did not fear death, she was ready to embrace it, but as she looked around at the shocked and terrified people, she knew that they did not and they did not deserve to die like that.

"It sets the air on fire" Jenner said with a dreamy voice. "No pain. It ends all sorrow, remorse and regret. Everything."

Daryl threw the liquor bottle into the steel door and Carol and Sophie cried. Mac stood in the far end of the room and looked as emotionless as ever. _Maybe he's not afraid to die_ , Armageddon thought to herself and looked away after catching his eye. Lori and Carl were also on the brink of tears, while Shane and Rick were angry and freaking out. "Open the damn door!" Daryl yelled out and Armageddon was shook because she had only once seen him this angry and flustered, and that was when he found out that Mac had made her pregnant.

"Outta my way!" Shane yelled while holding an ax. He ran straight to the steel door and started going at it and Daryl joined him as soon as he found another one.

"Those doors are made to withstand a rocket launcher" Dr. Jenner informed Shane when he finally gave up.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled out and swung the ax and was about to hit him when he was stopped. Even Armageddon tugged at him to make him stop. Unlike the rest, she was excited for what was about to come.

"You _do_ want this" Jenner said to Rick and met his eyes again. "Last night, you said it was just a matter of time before everyone you loved was dead."

"What, you really said that?" Shane asked and stared directly at Rick in disappointment. "After all you've been through?"

"I had to keep hope didn't I?" Rick said and directed his words to his wife who stared back at him in shock.

"There is no hope. There never was" Jenner said and shook his head. Armageddon wished she didn't, but she agreed with every word he said.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be here and maybe it won't be you, but somebody, somewhere-" Rick started passionately but was cut off by a pessimistic Andrea.

"What part of 'everything's gone' do you not understand?" She asked and met his eyes.

"Listen to your friend, she gets it" Jenner said somberly. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"No, it ain't" Daryl said and shook his head. "She's pregnant, she will keep us going-"

"He's right, Daryl" Armageddon said and shut him up. "There's no hope and there's no reason to keep on lying to ourselves about it."

"What?" He said and approached her, not stopping until they were body to body and looked her right in the eyes. "What did you say?"

"You heard me."

"So, you just wanna give up?"

She sighed. "I've wanted to give up since day one."

"Well, you ain't gonna" He ordered.

"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here!" Carol sobbed.

"One tiny moment, a millisecond" Jenner told her softly.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!"

Shane finally snapped, grabbed his shotgun, pointed it at Doctor Jenner's head and ordered him to open the door. He was sick and tired of waiting and didn't care who got in his way. Rick tried to talk some sense into him, but Shane was determined to get out of there. He snapped, but instead of shooting the doc, he shot the computers around him until Rick got the gun out of his hands.

"You done now?" Rick huffed.

"Yeah, I guess we all are" Shane retorted out of breath and stayed on the ground.

A tense moment of silence went by before Rick spoke up again. "I think you're lying."

"What?"

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

Jenner shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"It does. It always matters. You stayed when everybody else ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to," Jenner told him and stood up before pointing to the monitor where they had played TS-19. "I made a promise to her, to my wife."

"TS-19 was your wife" Lori realized and narrowed her blue eyes at him.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" He told her and the rest of the group. Well, Daryl and Mac weren't listening as they were back by the steel door and pounding on it with axes, hoping it would break. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. It wouldn't have mattered to anybody. _She_ was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place, I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this, not me."

"You're wife didn't have a choice, you do. That's-that's all we want" Rick said with a soft tone and begging eyes. "A choice. A chance."

"Let us keep trying as long as we can" Lori said and her voice broke as she said those words and held onto her terrified son.

For just a second, Jenner seemed like he was thinking about it. Then, he shook his head and told them that the topside was locked and he couldn't open it. Still, he walked up to his table, put his card onto a switch and put in some numbers before the steel door the Dixon brothers were hounding on finally opened.

"Come on!" Daryl called out and threw the ax away. He ran straight to Armageddon and was about to drag her away when she freed herself.

"I'm staying here."

"No, you ain't."

"This ain't your fucking decision!" She exclaimed and felt the desire to punch him in the face as he was about to grab her hand again.

He looked into her eyes before he bent his knees, then, before she knew it, he had slung her over his shoulder and was carrying her out the door and back to the dead civilization. She screamed and fought in his hold, kicking, punching and even scratching wherever she could, but she could not for the life of her get out of his grip.

"Shut up, before I make you!" Mac yelled at her.

"Daryl! Please!" She yelled out and fought the tears that formed in her eyes. The world went black as Mac's fist connected with her temples.


	19. Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone

 **Season 2**

Armageddon came to as Dale's RV shaking and going over small bumps on the road. Instead of thinking she was in Boston and forgetting all about reality like she always did, she remembered and the only thing she could remember was Daryl taking away her opportunity to choose her own fate and dragged her away before Mac knocked her out cold. She was in the only bedroom and the door was shut behind her. They were on the road and she knew that the CDC had already exploded. She jumped to her feet and marched out of the bedroom only to be greeted with stares. Almost half the group was in there, but not Daryl.

"Where's Daryl?" She growled and looked around, as if she had missed him by a glance.

"Armageddon, why don't you sit down?" Dale said calmly and stood up.

"Where the fuck is he?"

"Could you please not swear in front of the children?" Lori asked and shot her a glare.

Armageddon glared right back. "I'll say whatever the fuck I want. Where is the son of a bitch?"

"He's with Mac" Andrea answered and met her eyes briefly before looking away. Armageddon's green eyes shone with fury and hatred and if you stared for long enough, she would radiate that onto you.

"Stop the RV" Armageddon demanded and saw through the rear view mirror that it was Rick who was driving.

"I'm not gonna stop the-"

" _Stop_ the RV!"

"Armageddon, we'll stop in a while," Dale said softly and stood up before approaching her. "Why don't you go back inside and rest? I know you're not feeling well and-"

"I'm fine."

He leaned closer and stared deeply into her eyes. "You're scaring the children" He told her softly. "Please, calm down."

Armageddon pursed her lips and looked behind his shoulder where Sophia and Carl did not hide their staring. She looked back to Dale and nodded before going back to the bedroom and closing the door behind her. She was planning to be alone with her thoughts, but Carl foiled her plan when he knocked on the door before coming in, while his mom called after him.

"Hi" He said quietly.

"Hey, Carl."

"Daryl said that you were going to stay" He said and pursed his lips, looking away before meeting her eyes again. "At the CDC."

"I was, yeah" She concurred nonchalantly and nodded.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to live" She answered shortly and shook her head, all the while maintaining eye contact.

"But, I want you to live, Daryl does too and the baby inside you!" He insisted and tried his best to shift her depressive thoughts and turn them positive. It worked just the opposite as Daryl and the baby inside her were the reasons that were angering her and making her depressed. "My mom and Dad and Dale and Carol and Sophia and Glenn and T-Dog and everyone else wants you to keep on living and not die."

"Carl, you don't get it. That's not the point" She assured him with a melancholic tone. "This is not your or Daryl's or anyone else's decision. If I want to die, then that's what I want, and I couldn't care less what anyone else wants."

Carl stared at her wide eyed as he processed her words, then he left without saying anymore. She thought she had seen tears in his eyes, but she decided not to dwell on that. Her depression now had the strongest hold of her and she couldn't care less. The only emotions that dwelt inside her was the constant yearning for death, numbness and so much anger towards Daryl Dixon.

Armageddon had thought that after Carl left her, she would stay alone until the RV came to a stop, but barely ten minutes later, Lori strutted in with her nostrils flaring. "What did you say to my son?" She asked and Armageddon heard just how angry she was.

"I answered his questions" Armageddon answered and shrugged.

"You told him that you didn't care about anybody and that you just wanted to die" Lori exclaimed angrily. "You don't say that to a child!"

"It's the apocalypse, he's mature enough to be treated like an adult."

"No, he's not, you child!" Lori yelled out. "He's devastated because you, a person he cares about, expressed how much you wanted to die after everything we've been through! Jacqui, Amy, Jim, almost dying in the CDC!"

"I _was_ supposed to die there!" Armageddon snapped and jumped to her feet. "I had made my decision, but Daryl took it upon himself - like he always fucking does - to make a decision for me. I'm not supposed to be here! I should have-"

She was cut off when Lori suddenly mumbled how she didn't want to argue about this and suddenly left. She had walked in to argue, but when Armageddon finally snapped, she ran away like a passive-aggressive coward and would twist the story so that everyone who heard would only hear how much of a villain Armageddon was. How bad of a person she was. Usually, those things didn't bother her as she had gotten over it a long time ago, but now, as the match was lit and the bomb had gone off, she was imploding with rage and hatred and had half a mind to follow her out of the bedroom and punch her so many times that her face became a bloody pulp.

She didn't though, as the RV finally came to a halt and she knew that now was the time to take her fury out on someone who deserved it. She raced out of the bedroom and was out of the door before anyone could stop her. She found Mac's red pickup truck at the end of the line and she saw him there, stretching his legs. She wanted to run up to him, but managed to hold herself together as she marched those twenty steps towards him. When she was two feet away from him, however, and had caught his attention, she could not hold anything back and threw her first punch. Her knuckles stung as she had hit him in the cheek as hard as she could. She drew back her fist only to make it connect with his face once more before he grabbed her, locked his arms around her and held her as she squirmed and promised him all hell.

"You son of a bitch! I'll fucking kill you!"

"Calm down, or you'll attract every walker around" Shane said and marched up to her, but was stopped by Mac, who stood between them.

"Mind your own business."

Daryl huffed as he did his best to hold Armageddon down and kept her tight in his embrace. First she yelled and screamed, kicking and thrashing around, then the blows became softer and she became quieter. Daryl didn't mind as he had known this was about to happen and had prepared himself for it. When he felt tears hit his arms, he hurried away from the staring group and took her behind all the cars before letting her cry and tell him how much she hated him. He knew it hadn't been right to have just taken her away when she had made it clear that she had wanted to stay, but he had already lost his brother and he wasn't ready to lose her too, so he made a selfish decision and hoped she wouldn't hold it against him forever.

It did feel nice to cry and be held as a tidal wave of emotion washed over her and the world literally felt like it was at an end, then as she calmed down, she realized that it wasn't and that she had support, even if she didn't want it. Daryl's strong arms were reassuring and his calm demeanor made her feel better, if not only just a little. When the tears stopped running down her cheeks and the sobs ceased to exist, she wiped her cheeks and wriggled out of his embrace. She could feel his eyes on her as she stood up, but she did not look at him, she kept her back at him and wiped away any signs of crying before leaving him all alone to join the rest of the group.

"Are you gonna be attacking more group members?" Shane asked the second he saw her.

Armageddon scoffed and met his eyes. "Funny, coming from the man that attacked Ed Peletier and did not stop until he was a bloody mess" She said coldly.

Rick approached her. "What Shane meant to ask was if you had calmed down?" He said quietly and looked her straight in the eyes.

"I'm not a danger to anyone, if that's what you're asking" She told him in a matter of fact tone.

"What about to yourself?"

"It's none of your business what I do to myself."

"It is when it affects the rest of the group too."

"Who died and made you the leader?" She asked and furrowed her brows. "Because I did not sign up for a boss or a dictator."

"I'm not dictating you" He said softly and shook his head. "But, bear in mind that your behavior affects my son and he is my business."

"I won't be making any more public statements about my feelings" She told him and pursed her lips. "I can't make a better promise than that."

Rick nodded. "Good enough" He said and scratched his stubble-clad cheek. "You know, if you are feeling like this, you are welcome to talk to me."

"Thanks" Armageddon said emotionlessly and she knew how little she wanted to do that.

"We want you alive, Armageddon," He said softly and grabbed her forearm to express just how sincere he was. "All of us. We all care about you. And the baby."

She stared at him for a while before nodding and leaving him, not wanting to reply to that. It had been uncomfortable enough when Carl expressed how he wanted her to live and how much he cared, now hearing it from his father who she barely had had a conversation with felt ten times worse. She went back to the RV, sat down there and continued reading _Casino Royale_ , deciding that she was going to disappear from this world and just focus on something else for a while.

Armageddon watched Shane clean his gun and how Andrea sat by him and tried to memorize his every move. They spoke about basic gun cleaning and use and she immediately picked up chemistry between the two. Shane was a handsome man, Armageddon figured, he was not her type, but she could admit that he was handsome. And charming. Two main ingredients to make many women swoon, and she was sure he was a ladies man. Because of that, he was not her type. Well, no one was her type except the two men she married and she figured she would never be attracted to any man like she was to them. It wasn't even just attraction; it was addiction; they were essential to her; they were her whole life, world and even the reason for who she was. They were everything to her and every day she mourned them. She did not know if they were dead or alive, but they might as well be dead because she knew she would never see them again. And as that fact swam around in her head every day, she felt herself stray more and more from the person she once was and become someone completely different.

Dale snapped everyone back to reality. "Oh, geez" He mumbled and slowed down the RV, before completely stopping. Before them was a graveyard full of empty cars that formed a road block.

Daryl had found a way for the cars to get through and they had barely gotten a quarter a mile in to the road block when the RV broke down and smoke started rising from the hood. Everyone climbed out of the RV, except for Armageddon because she rather wanted to stay in and read than to have to face Daryl and his brother. Even though he had comforted her, she was still mad at him and knew she would be for quite some time.

Dale checked up on her two minutes later. "We might be stuck here for a while."

Armageddon looked up from her book and met his brown eyes. "Okay."

"Maybe you'd like to step outside and take a look around? There are a lot of cars around here and who knows what you might find" He suggested with a fatherly tone, sounding like a father trying to convince his teenager to leave its room and go outside.

"Is Daryl around?" She asked and cocked a brow.

Dale looked behind his shoulder. "He's not far away, if that's what you're asking."

"Then, I'd rather stay here" She said and looked back down to her book.

"If I may ask," He said softly and sat down beside her on the hard couch-like chair that was built in to the RV. "What happened at the CDC?"

"I was going to stay" She answered and kept her eyes at the book before looking up and meeting his eyes. "But, Daryl forced me out."

"Oh," Dale murmured and looked down. "That was not a good thing to do."

"No, it wasn't."

"But, aren't you at least a little bit relieved?" He asked and met her eyes again, his dark-chocolate brown eyes glimmering with hope. "That you didn't die back then?"

"No" Armageddon answered emotionlessly and shook her head.

"You know, I was going to stay too" He confessed. "Andrea and I. We were going to stay, but changed our minds at the last minute because we realized there is so much left of the world we've yet to experience that it would be a shame to miss it."

"There's nothing left of this world" She said somberly. "Nothing new that you will experience. This world is ruled by the dead and soon we all will be."

"That's not true" He told her and shook his head. "There are so many things left; falling in love, having a baby, happiness in so many different forms, people you have yet to meet that will somehow change your life for the better. Never say never, no matter if the world seems to have come to its end or not."

Armageddon pursed her lips and looked away from him. She wanted to object to everything he listed - she was never going to fall in love again, she was carrying an unwanted baby created by a rapist and she had no desires to meet new people - but she knew he would just object to her words or inquire further about her baby. She had wanted no one to know about it, but Daryl had already forced her secret out, so the only thing she now wanted to keep a secret was the true identity of the father. She was already baggage to them, she needn't be a _victim_ with baggage.

Dale left soon after that as he realized he would not change her mind. Armageddon kept on reading, but found it more and more difficult as his words circled in her head. _There are a lot of cars around here and who knows what you might find_. Ultimately, she closed the book and had to get out of the RV, knowing that first came, first got ruled and if she would see something she would really want, then she would have to get a move on.

She found an unopened bag of chips, some candy of various kinds, a packet of very mild pain killers, a large hoodie, one promising novel and a cell phone when a pair of hands suddenly grabbed her. She whirled around and was about to start fighting, thinking it was a walker, when she saw it was Mac. She tried pushing him back and thrashed around in his grip before he knocked her down to the ground. Her heart was beating at a million, her lungs struggled for air and every nerve in her body was tense as she feared that he was going to rape her again. He got down on the ground with her, put his hand over her mouth and dragged her under a Volkswagen.

She stopped trying to fight him when she heard growls and saw a pair of feet with rotting flesh amble past the car. She hated being in his embrace and being held tightly, with his hand still over her mouth, but she knew that now she was stuck until the herd of walkers passed them by. More and more walkers walked past and fear and paranoia gnawed at her as she expected one of them to drop down and find them. She had wanted to die a quick and painless death at the CDC, not by getting eaten alive while being held by her rapist.

When the walkers were all gone and a minute after that, Armageddon pushed herself out of Mac's grip and rolled from under the car. "You thought I was gonna have another go at ya?" Mac sneered and was up on his feet and right in her face.

She threw a punch his way, but as he had come to know her and her moves, he had calculated that she would react like that and grabbed her wrist, stopping her and twisted it before pulling her into his embrace. He chuckled and bared his meth-rotten teeth in her face. Armageddon grunted and thrashed around in his grip, kicking at his shin and knees. He smelt terrible and being stuck in his grip like that was the worst feeling in the world because she felt _stuck_ and solely under his control.

Suddenly, her white knight came to the rescue and split the two apart. "Get off her!" Daryl grunted and pushed Mac away. Mac threw his hands up in defeat and walked away before Daryl turned around and met her eyes. "You okay?"

"I didn't need your fucking help" She spat and felt the urge to hit him again, but thought against it.

He was about to say something when Armageddon's attention shifted from him and to something behind his shoulder. "Sophia" She muttered under her breath before she took off. Daryl looked behind his shoulder and barely saw Sophia running into the woods by the side of the road, being chased by two walkers.

Rick was just ahead of her, following the little girl in hopes of saving her, clutching a sniper. He fell down the small hill that led downwards towards the forest, rolling down it and grunting in pain, while Armageddon practically jumped down. She knew that Sophia was helpless and knew she needed to save her because no one else could. It was _she_ that promised her that she would always protect her no matter what, so it was going to be she that killed those two walkers and brought her back to her mother. Not that she didn't trust Rick - because she did - but, Sophia had become something of a daughter Armageddon never had, so she was extremely protective of the girl.

"Sophia!" She tried to call out, but was too out of breath to be very loud. She wanted to capture the little girl's attention, as well as the walkers', so the attention would be shifted to Armageddon and Rick, who were the ones that actually could protect themselves.

"What are you doing?" Rick hissed and stopped Armageddon as she was about to call out again. "Stop, before you attract more!"

"They..." She said and drew a breath as they ran. "Have... to stop... chasing her."

Branches hit her in the face and she almost tripped over rocks and from roots that grew out from under the ground. She finally tripped over one and scratched her knee, ripping the sweatpants she wore. She jumped back to her feet and realized that Rick wasn't behind her anymore and that Sophia and the walkers were even further away. She tried to catch up with them, but now had to follow the growls of the walkers and whimpers of Sophia instead of actually seeing them.

"Sophia!" She called out breathlessly. "Sophia!" She knew that she shouldn't be making too much noise, but she didn't care at that moment. She needed to find Sophia and bring her safely back, nothing else mattered.

Armageddon had been running around the woods for almost an hour when Rick and Daryl found her. "Where is she?" She asked breathlessly. She had barely stopped at all for a whole hour and even though her body screamed at her to calm down and catch her breath, her will to find the little girl overpowered that.

"Don't know" Rick answered shortly. "Was hoping she might be with you."

"You disappeared!" She exclaimed. "Where the fuck did you go?"

"I backtracked and met with Sophia by a creek not very far from here."

"And?"

"And I told her to stay where she was while I led the walkers away and told her that if I didn't return to run towards the highway" He told her.

"You couldn't just kill them?" She exclaimed louder than she knew she should have. "They were only two and that shouldn't be such a big problem for a seasoned cop!"

Rick sighed and shook his head, not knowing how he could explain himself. "So, it's been an hour and she hasn't returned?" She asked the both of them, but directed her question more to Daryl as he was, last time she knew, at the highway.

"No" He answered and shook his head curtly. "No signs of her."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Trying to locate her."

"Well, don't let me stop you," She said before directing her words to Rick. "Lead the way."

"You sure this was the spot?" Daryl asked and examined the small rock shelter that formed at that edge of the land and was sheltered with thin branches and grass. It was right at the beginning of the creek and the water barely reached up to the ankles over there.

"I left her right here" Rick answered. "I drew the walkers way up in that direction, up the creek. She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she had run off and gone back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder."

"You should have stayed with her" Armageddon mumbled with her arms crossed over her chest as Daryl went to examine the spot where Rick had pointed Sophia to go. She felt worse than ever because she had known that Rick wouldn't have been able to save her. She knew only she could have and she had failed her. Now she was somewhere out there, alone, cold and terrified in those strange woods, with maybe walkers all around.

"Got clear prints right here" Daryl said before meeting Rick's eyes. "She did like you said, headed to the highway."

Armageddon's despair dwindled as she heard those words and she stared wide-eyed with hope at Daryl. He met her eyes for a second when she felt her staring and she quickly broke the contact before clearing her throat. "Where'd she go exactly? Can you see that?"

"Yeah, come on" He nodded before crawling up. He helped her up and led the way forwards where he tracked Sophia's footprints.

They walked for a brief while, then Daryl stopped and went down on one knee. "Doin' just fine 'til here. All she had to do was keep goin', but she went that way."

"Why would she do that?" Armageddon mumbled mindlessly and followed Daryl's finger which pointed to the opposite direction of the highway.

"Maybe she saw something that spooked her. A walker" Rick guessed and stood beside her.

Daryl shook his head. "Don't see any other footprints except hers."

"Armageddon," Rick said and grabbed her arm softly. "Why don't you go back to the highway. Everyone's panicking and just tell them that we're on her trail."

Armageddon scoffed and arched his brows at him. "You can do that yourself, officer failure. I'm not the one who had her in my grips and told her to hide instead of protecting her."

"Armageddon," Daryl said and met her eyes before standing up. "Please."

"Hell no!" She exclaimed and looked from him and to Rick. "Either of you can go, I'm staying right here. I'm not leaving these woods until I find her."

The two men could hear how determined she was and Daryl knew it was pointless to argue or try to hold her back. He glanced at Rick before looking back to the little girl's prints and continued following them.

Fifteen minutes later, they had ventured deeper into the forest than Armageddon had dared to check earlier. "Tracks are gone" Rick commented.

"No, faint, but they ain't gone" Daryl told him and almost had his nose to the ground like a tracking hound. "She went through here."

"How can you tell?" Rick questioned. "I don't see anything here but dirt, grass-"

"You want a lesson in trackin' or you wanna find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?" Daryl asked, interrupting him. That shut Rick up and the trio kept on searching.

A rustle in the bushes stopped everyone. Rick and Daryl dropped down to the ground, while Armageddon stood her grounds and drew up her Swiss Army knife. It was a lonely walker that roamed down-a-ways, ten or more feet away from them. Rick ran down to distract it while Daryl crept up from behind it and shot it with his crossbow. Armageddon ran down towards them as soon as she saw the walker with fresh blood on his face fall. Daryl called out for Sophia and Armageddon did too, but neither of them got an answer.

Rick put on gloves before he started picking at the walker. "What're you lookin' for?" Daryl asked as he watched him do that.

"Skin under the fingernails" Rick answered shortly. He turned the dead man around so it lay on its back and noticed the blood on its face. "It fed recently."

"No shit," Armageddon spat and knelt down by it. "But, how we going to know if it fed on a human or something else?"

Daryl had the answer for that. He sat down astride from the walker, pulled out his best knife before he dug it into the dead man's stomach. He made a pretty big hole before he stuck his hand inside, after he had put his own gloves on. "Yeah, hoss had a big meal, not long ago. I feel it in there" He confirmed as he had almost half of his hand inside the walker. Armageddon fought the urge to throw up as a strong smell of death entered her nose and the only thing she saw was dark, rotted blood and intestines.

He ended up taking out the stomach and Rick took the lead from there. Armageddon was so close to throwing up, but she willed everything to stay down as she watched Rick open up the dead man's stomach, revealing its processed feedings. Daryl took out something bloody and as he checked it out, Armageddon noticed small buckteeth, like she would on a rabbit or a squirrel. "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch."

That was it for Armageddon, who barely managed to turn around before everything came spewing out. She heard some crackle before she felt hands on her shoulders. "You okay?" Daryl asked her as she retched. He helped hold her hair back as her only answer was vomiting.

"Sorry" She mumbled and wiped her nose and mouth.

"You okay?" Daryl asked and handed her his red durag. She took it and wiped her face with it before she nodded.

"Yeah, just felt disgusted, that's all" She answered shortly before meeting his eyes. She was thankful, but she was still mad as hell at him. "So, there's no sign of human in there?" She asked and directed her words to Rick, who still knelt by the corpse.

"Nope, nothing except animal" Daryl answered before he lowered his voice and narrowed his eyes at her. "You sure you don't wanna go back?"

She felt nauseous, but she wasn't going to let that or anything else stop her from looking for Sophia. "I'm fine."

"Okay, he said, let's keep goin'."

Daryl and Rick ended up giving up at dusk and convinced Armageddon that they couldn't look for her forever, especially when it was getting dark. Daryl promised her that they would keep on looking for her the first thing tomorrow and that they would find her. Armageddon ultimately settled on that and let them drag her back. Though, she regretted it immediately when she saw Carol standing by the highway and waited impatiently for her daughter to come back. Their eyes met and her sad, blue eyes shone with hope that died away when she saw the three of them and no signs of her daughter.

"You didn't find her?" She asked and her voice broke. Tears started running down her face and it broke Armageddon's heart as she knew she couldn't do anything to make her feel better.

"The trail went cold" Rick answered. "We'll pick it up at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there all alone" Carol begged. "Spend the night alone in the woods."

Armageddon knew she was right and was about to turn around and head back when Daryl grabbed her hand and stopped her. "Huntin' in the dark's no good. We'd just be trippin' over ourselves. More people'd get lost."

"But, she's twelve, she can't be out there all by herself-"

"I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there" Rick assured her and tried his best to calm her down.

"We tracked her for a while" Daryl concurred.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows those woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this" Rick said and directed his words to the whole group.

"Is that- is that blood?"

"We took down a walker" Rick told her.

"A walker?" Carol gasped before her breathing hitched. "Oh god."

"There was no sign that it was anywhere near Sophia" He reassured her and tried again to calm the hysterical woman.

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked and Rick avoided her eyes by looking to Daryl.

"We cut the son-bitch open" Daryl said and directed his words to Carol. "Made sure."

Carol sat down and started hyperventilating and Armageddon knew she was not very far from having a panic attack, if she wasn't already having one. "How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" She snapped at Rick before looking to Armageddon. "And where were you?" She cried out before she burst into tears. "Where _were_ you? You promised to always keep Sophia safe! _You_ promised her that! She trusted you!"

Armageddon pursed her lips and looked away, knowing she had no excuse. "I'm sorry" She said sincerely before meeting her eyes once more. She turned away before she could say more and left, heading into the road block, but away from the public eye as she knew she was about to break down herself.

When she knew she was out of ear-range from everyone, she hid behind a car and burst into tears. She buried her face in her hands and toned down her sobs as she felt her world crash and burn around her. She had failed Sophia, she had failed her mother and she had also failed herself. She knew that if they would not find her tomorrow, then they never would and then she would have lost yet another person she cared about.


	20. Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo

Rick opened up an arsenal on top of an abandoned car. "Everybody takes a weapon" He said.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need" Andrea commented and shook her head.

"Speak for yourself" Armageddon grunted and took a pretty sharp, small pickax before anyone else could.

"What about the guns?" Andrea asked.

"We've been over that" Shane told her. "Dale, Rick and I are carrying. Don't want people popping off every time a tree rustles." Armageddon wanted to object to what he was saying, but knew he was right so she kept her mouth shut.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about" Andrea said with a frown.

"If somebody fires at the wrong moment, let's say a herd was passing by, then it's game over for all of us. So, you need to get over it" He said sternly.

Daryl talked about how he wanted to track and find Sophia and Armageddon directed her attention to him because she knew if there was any way of finding her, it was with Daryl's help. He was reluctant to let her come with him, though, as she had been puking and nauseous all morning, but she made it known that she wasn't going to let anything stop her; not him nor some sickness.

Before they went, Armageddon heard Andrea and Dale bicker because he had taken her gun from her and she wanted it back and then she commented that he might be afraid of giving it back to her because she might kill herself. "Jenner gave us a choice and I chose to stay. You took that from me" She said and Armageddon realized that she and Andrea might just have more in common than she had thought.

"You chose suicide!" Dale insisted. Armageddon pursed her lips and willed herself not to get between them with her opinions. Of course it was Andrea's decision and nobody had the right to take that from her, so he shouldn't have been nagging her, but, this was Andrea and Dale, not she and Daryl, which was a whole other thing. Armageddon was sure that even though Dale was healthy for his age, he did not have the ability to drag her out of that CDC, like Daryl had done to her.

"What's that to you? You barely know me" Andrea asked and furrowed her brows at him.

"I know Amy's death devastated you-"

"Keep her out of this" She said and interrupted him. "This is not about Amy, this is about us. And if I decided I had nothing left to live for who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?" She said and tears welled in her eyes while her voice was not far from breaking.

"I saved your life."

"No, Dale, I saved yours. You forced that on me."

Armageddon looked from the two and the first pair of eyes she met were Daryl's. Andrea's words had influenced her a lot because they had almost been in the exact same position. She'd had no idea because she didn't remember anything after Daryl slung her over his shoulder and Mac knocked her out, but hearing that, she couldn't help but get goosebumps and feel tears well in her own eyes. She looked away from him before she could get too emotional and reminded herself that her feelings didn't matter at that moment. The only thing that mattered was Sophia and getting her back.

Crickets chirped and Armageddon was surprised when she spotted spiders and other insects running around in those woods. She had thought that almost every living creature was dying away just like the humans, but now knew that useless insects like cockroaches and spiders were forever going to stay on this world no matter if it were a zombie apocalypse or a nuclear war. It was hot out today, almost ninety degrees and she found herself sweating after almost five minutes of walking. She stayed close by Daryl, but knew that she could not for long as her nausea was now accompanied by fatigue, making everything worse. More than almost half of the group went out looking for Sophia, which Armageddon didn't like either because she felt the crowd close in on her along with the endless amount of trees and she slowly started to feel like she was suffocating. The only thing that kept her going was Sophia.

They found a tent in the middle of the forest and everyone immediately got panicky. Nobody expected anyone to be alive in there, if anyone was in there. "Maybe she could be in there" Shane reflected.

"There could be a whole bunch of things in there" Daryl said quietly and approached the tent slowly. Daryl went first, then Rick and Shane was right behind him and then came Armageddon, who was told to stay back, but was in no mood to be taking commands, especially from the man who had lost the girl they were looking for.

Daryl made the three people behind him stop when they were five feet away and drew up his knife as he went in. It was an ugly shade of yellow tent with a grey zip-up door, which made it look even more hideous. It was the kind of tent people would buy for hunting trips out into the woods as a necessity and not as a recreation. There was a bunch of stuff scattered around it; a cooler, a rake, empty cans and bags. Somebody had been living there, that was for sure. Daryl carefully peaked around and tried to look inside without actually opening the tent, but eventually looked inside.

Rick softly called out to Carol and asked her to call out to Sophia as that would be the first voice the little girl would want to hear if she was in there. Carol hesitantly approached the tent and was followed along with the others before she mustered up any words. "Sophia. Sweetie, you in there?" She said softly. "Sophia, sweetie, it's mommy."

Daryl glanced back and readied the knife as they got no answers from the tent. Everyone stayed quiet as the two police officers approached Daryl and went up to the tent and Armageddon found herself mindlessly following them. Daryl slowly and quietly zipped the tent open before throwing the sleeve back and exposing the most foul smell Armageddon had ever smelt in a long time. She ran away from them and the rest of the group and only let herself throw up when she was a yard away from them, so that she wouldn't be making any noise that would attract unwanted attention to them. She knew Sophia wasn't in there the second Carol got no answers and when that smell hit her nose after Daryl opened up the tent, she knew it was just a confirmation of that thought.

"Hey, you okay?" Glenn said and sounded barely two feet away from the hunched-back girl.

"Yeah," She said and spat the last of her vomit out before wiping her face. "It's just-"

"Morning sickness?"

Armageddon turned around and met his eyes. _I hope not_ , she thought to herself and felt dread wash over her. She knew she was pregnant; she had taken a urine test which told her it was positive, she hadn't gone on her period in over a month and even a blood test was positive for pregnancy, but the second she heard those two little words, she knew everything was over because now, her pregnancy was _really_ beginning. She had been nauseous for over two days straight and threw up every chance things got too much for her and also she felt fatigued even though she had slept all right that night. She was going to have to deal with morning sickness, hormonal escalation, mood sings, constipation and diarrhea, bulging out, getting swollen and bloated and may more other symptoms of pregnancy. Something she was not ready for.

She waved her hand dismissively and shook her head. "I'm fine" She told him. "Was she in there?"

"No, just some dead guy that had shot himself."

"Great."

Church bells sounded off the minute Armageddon and Glenn got back to the rest of the group and everyone sprinted in that direction, knowing that Sophia might just be there.

It did not take long to stumble into a cemetery and find the church. It was a pretty neat place, considering the type of condition of Atlanta. The church was made of wood and painted white with a blue roof and no cross on top nor bells. Could it be that they were at the wrong place?

The doors to the church were closed and everyone readied their weapons before Rick and Daryl opened up. There were three walkers sitting in the pews and facing a large ceramic Jesus that hung on a wooden cross somberly, whose attention shifted to the men as they went inside. Rick drove a machete into one man's head, Daryl swung his mini pickax into another and Shane drove a large hunting blade into the eye of the third, thus incapacitating everyone. Armageddon slowly stepped inside and stepped past the three dead bodies, her eyes fixated on Jesus as she walked all the way up to him. " _In nomini patri, et fili,_ " She mumbled before coming to a stop, right in front of the son of Christ. " _Spiritu sancti_ " She whispered, all the while with her two husbands on her mind. She kissed the ceramic statue on the side and for the first time in her life she felt hope and belief towards Christianity. "Keep them safe" She whispered before meeting Jesus' solemn, dead eyes. She pursed her lips before turning around and heading back out of the church, avoiding every pair of eyes that stuck to her with every step.

The church bells started ringing once more as she was walking down the couple of stairs of the church and she was soon met with Daryl, who hastily looked around in search for the originator of that sound. It came from speakers that were set up beneath the drains of the roof, high enough for no one to reach and shielded if there were to come a storm. Glenn found the power box to it and quickly turned it off before any more walkers could come into sight.

"Timer" Daryl huffed after taking one look at it. "It's on a timer."

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit" Carol said with a shaky voice.

"You okay?" Daryl asked Armageddon as she watched Sophia's mother go inside to pray. She had her arms crossed over her chest and skepticism had returned and taken faiths place.

"I'm fine" She grunted.

"What was that in there? You wanna talk about it?"

She met his eyes and realized that he wanted to help make her feel better because he knew she was thinking of her husbands, but he should have realized that he was not the person she wanted to talk to. "There's nothing to talk about" She told him emotionlessly. "D'you have any traces of where Sophia is?"

"No" He answered and broke their eye contact before pursing his lips. "Not yet."

Shane, Rick and Carl ended up staying by the church in case Sophia would go there, while Daryl, Armageddon and the rest headed back to the creek to search the area there more thoroughly. Rick wanted to give Lori his gun, but she refused to take it because then he would have no gun, so instead, Daryl gave her a six-shooter he had been carrying. "Got a spare, take it."

"What was that about?" She asked him as they headed back.

"What was what?" He asked and glanced at her.

"Giving Lori that gun."

"What about it?"

"What about me? Why should she get a gun and not me?" She asked and arched his brows at him. "'Cause, what? She's Rick's wife?"

"You know how to shoot?" He asked her and raised a brow.

"No" She answered in frustration. "But, neither does she."

"Why do you want a gun?"

Armageddon stopped for a second and cocked her head at him, making him stop and meet her eyes. "Because I'm the pregnant one here, and we both know _how_ I got pregnant" She hissed before she started walking again and picked up her pace.

"Look," He said and stopped her again, putting his hand on her shoulder for a few seconds before she pushed him away. "I'll get you a gun. I don't know if that will satisfy you or make you feel safer, but I'll do it. Just gimme time."

"I'm not asking for a gun" She said in an exasperated tone.

"Then what do you want?" He asked confusedly and furrowed his brows at her.

"I don't know!" She exclaimed. "I want there to be equality and not some fuckin' capitalism where the leader's wife gets a gun only 'cause she's the leader's wife and she's _so_ special. I want people to stop looking at me like some helpless fuckin' girl that needs to take commands because she's pregnant and doesn't know what to do with herself!"

"What?" He asked and sounded genuinely confused by her.

"Forget it!" Armageddon exclaimed and threw her hands up in the air before storming off, keeping her pace fast so that he wouldn't catch up with her. Her anger and frustration overpowered anything else and for a second she even forgot about Sophia and her incessant need to find her.

"Hey," Andrea said and quickly caught up with her. "You okay?"

"Stop fucking asking me that!" Armageddon exclaimed and made a fist with her hand that she was more than ready to throw in the next person's face who would dare ask her that.

"I'm sorry," Andrea said and threw her hands up in the air. "But, you look upset, do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"I heard what you said to Daryl and I completely agree with you" She said and acted as if she didn't hear Armageddon's response. Armageddon looked at her with a raised brow. "With Lori getting a gun. We have as much right to carry a gun as she, if not more since mine was taken away from me and you, a pregnant woman, would need it the most to protect yourself."

Armageddon sighed and shook her head. "It's capitalism" She said and scoffed. "Just 'cause it's the end of the world, doesn't mean that a person won't elect himself to become the supreme and get all the privileges that everyone should have."

"Yeah" Andrea concurred. "What can we do about it?"

Armageddon laughed. " _We_? I'm the least liked person in this group and I am also the one with the most baggage. I can't do shit."

"That's not true. Everyone in this group loves you and you are actually one of the people that the others look up to; you're intelligent, good with children, bilingual and stronger than all of us combined."

Armageddon shook her head. "I'm tri-lingual" She told her. "I speak three languages fluently, not two."

"Exactly my point!"

"But, what? You want me to rewrite the Communist Manifesto and start holding radical meetings, exclaiming how we are oppressed and don't have as much privilege as Rick and his beloved wife?" Armageddon laughed and raised her brows.

"No, but you could talk to Daryl. He listens to you and he could convince Rick or Dale to-"

"No" Armageddon said and interrupted Andrea as she was about to unveil her master plan to get her father's gun back. "I'm sorry, but that's never gonna work." She shook her head before pursing her lips. "I can try to talk to Dale and get him to give you your gun back and you might even be able to try to steal it, since it can't be that hard to find, but I'm not involving Daryl in anything."

"Why not?" Andrea asked and furrowed her brows.

"Because just like Dale, he took away my choice" She confessed and broke the eye contact before looking around, reminding herself that she was in that forest for a reason, not just for a recreational walk. "I was going to stay at the CDC and he forced me out, so I'd like to keep as much space between us as I can, otherwise I might try to wring his neck."

"So, this is it?" Carol suddenly spoke up and sat down on a fallen tree trunk. "This is the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to widdle us down to smaller and smaller groups" Daryl sighed and leaned against a nearby tree as everyone came to a stop. Armageddon sat down on the same trunk as Carol and rejoiced finally giving her legs a rest.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks. I see you have a gun" Andrea said and directed her words to Lori.

"Why? You want it?" Lori retorted. She reached back and handed Andrea the gun. "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you." She now looked at Carol and directed her words to her. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it, but you gotta stop blaming Rick. It is in your face _every time_ you look at him. And once Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, not for a second. I don't know if any of us would've gone after her the way he did."

"Speak for yourself" Daryl grunted before motioning to Armageddon. "You forget who was the first one after her?"

Lori pretended like she didn't hear him and didn't even glance into Armageddon's direction. "Or make the hard decisions that he had to make or if anybody could have done it any differently" She said before coming to a pause and glaring at Carol before looking around. "Anybody?"

Armageddon wanted to speak up, but knowing Lori and that it would only lead to an argument that she might as well have with a brick wall, she kept her mouth shut. Lori had disliked her from the very first day they met, she didn't know why or how that had happened, but ever since day one things had been tense around the two women.

"Y'all look to him and then blame him when he's not perfect" Lori continued, shaking her head. "You think you can do this without him, go right ahead nobody's stopping you." It was at that moment Armageddon realized that that whole speech had been directed to her and her only. This was because she had, in her state of anger and frustration, vented to both Daryl and Andrea about capitalism, when she barely even meant a word that she said. She had been sick the whole day and the days before, it had been a rough couple of days with nothing but worrying and anxiety, and now this bitch was gonna come off and give a big speech just to make Armageddon feel bad.

She cleared her throat and stood up. "Thanks for that speech, it was exactly what all of us needed, especially Carol, who's going through the worst time of her life and really needed you to turn this about your life and not the importance of finding her daughter" Armageddon said and finally met Lori's eyes. "Next time, please keep your opinions to yourself, because - I don't know about the others - but I don't need to hear it. Yes, Rick, just like everybody else in this world, isn't perfect and we all know that he's doing his best, nobody has expressed any other opinion except what a great guy he is." She stepped closer to her and lowered her voice. "And also, if you want to take your frustration out on the words of a delirious pregnant woman, who's been out in the sun for too long and riddled with anxiety these past couple of days and is just venting meaningless anger, don't take it personal because it is _just_ meaningless."

Lori stared at her wide eyed and she knew everyone was watching them, but Armageddon didn't care. She just shrugged carelessly and pretended like she wasn't fazed by any of this. "Just a suggestion" She said before turning around and continuing her search.

Lori stopped for the third time and look around, as if she expected to see someone emerge from the woods. "You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked her. They all came to a halt and everyone's attention was on Lori.

"Think it was a gunshot" Lori answered and kept on looking around.

"We all heard it" Daryl told her.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori asked with worry and met Daryl's eyes.

"Maybe they took down a walker" Daryl shrugged.

"Please, don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot for just one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they've caught up with us by now?" Carol asked and only added to the anxiousness.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway" Daryl said carelessly. "We can't be runnin' around these woods chasing echoes."

"So, what do we do?" Lori asked him.

"Same as always, beat around the bush for Sophia and work our way back to the highway" Daryl answered.

"Right away?" Armageddon asked him and furrowed her brows. "We've already been through here and if Sophia had been too, she would have been back on the highway already. There's so much grounds left to take."

"Not today there ain't" Daryl told her.

"If not today then never" She said and shook her head. "This isn't just a missing person's case where we have to wait three days to know she won't be returning. The dead feast on the living as much as they can, which means that if we don't find her by today..." She stopped as she met Carol's eyes and realized that she should not finish that sentence.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through" Andrea said to Carol before anyone else could speak up. "I know how you feel."

"Suppose you do" Carol said softly and nodded, squeezing out a thankful smile. "Thank you." She sighed and her smile vanished, replaced by a look of anguish. "The thought of her out here, all by herself. It's the not-knowing that's killing me." She sniffed and wiped away a tear. Armageddon took a step closer to her and put her hand reassuringly on the woman's shoulder, in which she got the same grateful smile that Andrea got earlier. "I just keep on hopin' and prayin' she don't wind up like Amy."

That was a hard and unintentional blow that Andrea took from those words. "Oh god" Carol said and took Andrea's hands into hers. "That's the worst thing I've ever said."

Andrea shook her head and pretended like she wasn't hurt by what she said. "We're all hoping and praying with you" She said and faked a smile. "For what it's worth."

"I'll tell you what it's worth" Daryl said and got between them. "Not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying."

"Daryl-" Armageddon said and took a step closer to him, warning him that if he wouldn't shut up, she would slap him.

He ignored her. "We're gonna locate that little girl and she's gonna be just fine."

"Please, don't ever say that again," Armageddon said to Daryl as they started walking again. They were far enough away so that if she spoke softly, no one would make out exactly what she would say. "Carol's in a really tough and desperate place and people in those kinds of situations really need to hope and pray. It's what keeps them going, what gets them up in the morning and makes them function like the rest of us."

"No, it don't" He disagreed and shook his head. "It's survival instincts that get us goin'."

Armageddon scoffed. "Not everyone's as tough as you" She told him.

"It's not me bein' tough, it's a fact."

Armageddon was too tired and too worn out to try to convince him or get into a debate about something so small as that, so she sighed and changed the subject. "We really just gonna go back to the highway and call it a day?"

"Yup" He answered.

"So, you don't agree with what I said earlier?" She asked and raised a brow.

"Yeah, I do," He nodded before meeting her eyes. "But, no one's any good all exhausted. We need to gather our strength or we'll get lost too."

Armageddon pursed her lips and looked away, knowing he was right, but wishing he wasn't. "You're not a believer, are you?" He asked her and broke the silence that formed between them. "In God and all that shit?"

"No" She answered and shook her head curtly. "I don't believe that we're all supposed to hand our fates to some higher power and hope for the best. I believe we all create our own fates and that it's up to us how we want our lives to turn out, not some man in the sky. But, I understand why people do. Some people actually need to believe that for their own reasons and we, who know better, cannot for the life of us change their minds. They believe so that in their time of misery, they will actually hold onto hope that things might just be okay because they are well-behaved and good people that don't deserve bad shit happening to them. That's why I asked you earlier not to say something like that to her. She can't lose hope," She looked behind her shoulder just to check if someone - especially Carol was listening - before meeting his eyes again and lowering her voice even more. "It's all she's got left in this world."

Daryl nodded and seemed to understand. If this were Mac or Merle, they wouldn't have listened to a word she had said, but Daryl was a decent human being that cared about others, unlike his brothers.


	21. A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men

 _"It's gonna get dark soon. Think we should call it" Daryl said as they came to a stop in the middle of the woods after a long while of searching and barely finding anything._

 _"Let's head back" Lori concurred breathlessly._

 _"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked hopeful. Armageddon didn't agree with calling it quits or that they would pick up the trace tomorrow as they barely picked up the trace today, but she's too nauseous to object._

 _"We'll find her tomorrow" Lori promised, making Armageddon roll her eyes. She stuck walking beside Glenn and let him help her out with the rest of the walking as she was getting too tired and too sick to manage well on her own. She knew Daryl wanted to be the one helping her, but she wanted none of his help._

 _"How much longer?" Lori huffed_ breathlessl _y after walking a whole mile._

 _"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards, as the crow flies" Daryl answered casually and didn't seem as tired as the woman. Even Armageddon managed to stay patient and kept on walking, despite knowing that if she would walk another mile would make her collapse. The only thing that kept her going was the dwindling hope of finding Sophia._

 _"Too bad we're not crows" Andrea said and sighed. Armageddon had only have to stop once to throw up and she was doing everything she could not to throw up again until after they got back to the highway, though that got harder and harder as she got more and more breathless._

 _A walker attacked Andrea and instead of reacting the right way and killing it, she started screaming and led everyone to her, where she was on the ground, crying and struggling. Armageddon was surprised she had made it this far in the apocalypse, judging from that reaction. She did not stop screaming. Then, when they were almost there to save her, a rider on a horse came around and saved her, knocking the dead one off her with a baseball bat. It was a young woman in her twenties with a bob-cut of brunette hair and determined grey eyes. She called out for Lori. Rick sent her. It was an emergency. Something had happened to Carl. She didn't need to be told twice to get up on that horse and ride away, despite Daryl's apprehension for the stranger. The rider let them know where to find them and then rode away before anyone could barely process what happened. Armageddon barely managed to watch them go as everything came spewing out of her, making Daryl immediately run up to her and help her hold her hair back as she vomited for the fifth time that day._

 _"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asked when they returned._

 _"I don't know, man. All I know is some chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro and took Lori" Glenn told him and was just as confused as the old man, even though he had witness everything happening._

 _"Zorro?" Armageddon repeated and chuckled, shaking her head. "More like_ Hidalgo _." When she only got confused looks and no agreements, she decided to add to her sentence. "What? You haven't seen it? It's good."_

 _Dale and Daryl wanted her to go with Glenn and T-Dog to the farm to find the rest. They tried their best to convince her that it would be best for everyone if she went with them - especially for herself because she was so sick, but did she listen? No. She stayed right where she was and ignored their begs to leave._

 _Daryl couldn't sleep that night in the RV because of Carol's constant sobbing and Andrea's tampering with the pistols, taking everything apart and then putting them all together. Nobody slept except for Armageddon who lay beside Carol in the bedroom of the RV and practically snored. She was so relieved to finally lay down and relax that she was knocked out cold the second her head hit the pillow. He asked Andrea to make sure that she wouldn't wake up as he was going to go out and continue looking for Sophia. That got Carol to stop crying. She stared at him with grateful eyes and promised him that she would cover him if Armageddon were to wake up, because they all knew how intent she was on searching. Armageddon would have stayed all day and night in that forest if she didn't know that Daryl would drag her back._

 _Andrea told him that she was going to come with him and the two were stopped by Dale, who sat on top of the RV and kept watch for the night. He objected them going, but Andrea brushed him off. Then, they were stopped by Mac. "You go, I'll catch up with you" Daryl told her and shooed her away because he knew his brother wanted to say something to him and he wanted to say it just the two of them._

 _"What, you one of them now?" Mac grunted and raised a brow._

 _"You ain't?"_

 _"No" Mac answered and shook his head shortly. "They'll sell us out the first thing they get. The only reason they haven't is because of her."_

 _Armageddon. Daryl knew he was right, but only partly. He knew everyone wanted to keep the pregnant woman safe and he also knew that no one wanted to have Mac around - not that he had been much around since the RV broke down. He had pretty much been on his own doing God knows what, not giving a damn while the rest of the group searched for the little girl. But, they couldn't have Armageddon unless they had Daryl and Mac, since they were a package deal. Daryl refused to leave her side and Mac didn't want to completely leave without his brother. "Maybe they won't" Daryl suggested._

 _"Not if you don't stop kissing their asses" His older brother commented. "The fuck are you doin' anyway?"_

 _"Looking for the girl."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"'Cause someone has to."_

 _"Don't they got the pigs to do that job?" Mac asked and arched his brows. "They should be trained for it." He narrowed his eyes at his little brother and weighed him out. "Or are you just doin' this so that she forgives you?"_

 _"This isn't about Armageddon" Daryl tried to tell him._

 _"Yeah, it is" His brother nodded. "You've got the hots for her since day one and still do. Why? She's used goods."_

 _Daryl curled his hands to fists and fought the urge to knock his older brother's teeth out. He hated the way he talked about her and he hated the way he showed no signs of remorse for raping her and leaving her stuck pregnant with an unwanted child. Mac couldn't care less. He only cared about himself. As he didn't want to carry on with this conversation or end up in another brutal fist fight, Daryl turned his back on him and left with Andrea to keep on searching for Sophia._

 _Armageddon woke up barely half an hour later and the first name off her lips was Daryl's. Carol had yet not managed to fall asleep, so she was prepared for this. "He just went out to do his business" She told her and stopped Armageddon was about to crawl out of bed. "He'll be right back."_

 _"Okay" Armageddon mumbled and lay back down. "Could you tell him to wake me up when he comes?"_

 _"Sure thing, sweetie" Carol said and tucked the younger girl in. "Rest until then."_

 _"Okay" She mumbled and was back asleep barely a minute later._

Armageddon could not make being in the RV as they drove away from the highway to look for the farm and reluctantly ended up riding with Daryl on his motorcycle, since it didn't give her car sickness. She still wanted to keep some distance between them since she was still mad at him, but the open air and the wind blowing in her hair really calmed down her sick stomach. She jumped off his bike as soon as they stopped in front of a large farmhouse. It was a large land that started maybe half a mile back where they had to go through a gate and large fields of grass that made her believe that the people living there could have sheep or horses, but she saw no animals on the way.

They were greeted by the rest of the group and the residents of that farm. Rick and Lori met with them. "How is he?" Dale asked them.

"He'll pull through" Rick told him.

Armageddon sighed in relief. "Oh, thank god" She said and put her hand on her heart as she felt half the weight of the world shift off her shoulders. "Do-do you want a hug?" She hesitantly asked Lori, since she knew that having her son shot must have taken a large toll on her.

"No. Thanks, though" Lori said and flashed her a genuine smile. "This is all thanks to Hershel and his people." She pointed with her chin to an older man, somewhere in his sixties and seventies, with a balding top of his head while the rest was clear white. He was clean-shaved and wore cleaner clothes than she believed existed in this apocalypse. She got a little self-conscious when she looked around and saw that she and the rest of her group probably looked like a complete wreck compared to them, with their dirty and torn clothes, smelling like sweat and dried blood and basically looked like they hadn't slept or showered in months.

"And Shane" Rick added. "We'd have lost Carl if not for him."

Shane stood awkwardly in the corner and Armageddon had mistaken him for one of the residents because he was wearing new clothes and was sporting a buzz cut, looking far from his usual self. Dale embraced Rick. "How'd it happen?" He asked the worried father.

"Hunting accident. That's all" Rick said and tried to sound casual about this, but failed miserably. He was too strung up to be worried at the moment.

"Accident?" Armageddon scoffed and raised a brow.

"Just a stupid accident" He sighed and looked away before meeting Armageddon's eyes. "Uh, Armageddon, this is Hershel, he's the owner of this land."

"Hello" Armageddon said and shook the older man's hand.

"Nice to meet you" He said formally. "Rick told me you were pregnant?"

"Ah" She said and looked at Rick before meeting the old man's blue eyes once more, feeling flustered as she realized that she was _that_ girl. The girl with baggage. The helpless girl. "Yes. Yes, I am."

"I have a spare bedroom that I'd like to offer you" He told her and motioned her to follow him as he headed inside. "Pregnancies can be straining and difficult and what Rick has told me, you all don't even have a proper bed."

"With all due respect, sir" Armageddon said and stopped him, putting on her best and most polite facade. "I'm not that far ahead, hell, I'm barely even a month in, so I don't need any 'luxuries' or special treatment. I'm just like the others."

"But, aren't you experiencing morning sickness?" He asked and raised a bushy brow at her. She pursed her lips and reluctantly nodded. She didn't want to admit it to herself, let alone to somebody else, but she knew she couldn't hide it so she told him the truth. "If you want my professional advice, I'd suggest you take the bed because it will help the acid reflux that might follow."

"I've had acid reflux all my life" She told him carelessly and waved her hand dismissively.

He sighed. "Okay, but if you change your mind, the room will be ready."

She flashed him a grateful smile before going back outside. She found Rick immediately, but he was too busy catching up with Glenn and Dale, so she had to wait a minute before he was free to talk. "Hey, I'm sorry about your son and I'm so glad that he's gonna be okay" She told him sincerely before her facade dropped. "But, what the fuck were you thinking telling some stranger about me being pregnant?"

"I thought it might help you" Rick told her. "Hershel's a doctor and he's even offered to give you a room here-"

"That's still none of your business" She told him and shook her head. "Thank you, I mean it, thank you for caring, but I don't want any help. I'm fine just as is and I'm gonna stay fine whether I sleep on the muddy ground or at five star hotel."

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry" She said and waved her hand, feeling bad for her little outburst. "I'm just," She sighed. "Sick of everyone trying to coddle me. I'm a grown woman and I can think for myself."

"I understand, sorry if I was out of hand" Rick nodded and sounded so sincere.

"Thanks." 

After getting settled in, the residents threw a funeral for the man who lost his life on the emergency supply run with Shane, trying to retrieve all the medical supplies. Armageddon listened as Hershel resided the bible and the dead man's wife talked about how good of a man he was. It was a pain to go through because this world had taken so many people, but she hadn't gone to one funeral. She had rather wanted to go to someone she knew of because she felt like an intruder standing there and pretending to share the sorrow, but she didn't want to be disrespectful, so she stayed and wished everyone who knew him her condolences.

After the funeral, Armageddon, Daryl, Shane, Andrea, Rick, Hershel and his daughter Maggie gathered up and organized a search for Sophia, who had now been missing for three days. Hershel advised against both Rick and Shane going because Rick had given Carl so much of his blood and Shane had a dislocated ankle.

"Guess it's just me" Daryl said.

"No, not just you" Armageddon told him and shook her head.

"I don't think you should go either" Hershel said.

"You remember last time you went with us?" Daryl asked her and raised a brow. "You really think you're up for it?"

"Yeah, I'm fuckin' up for it" She told him in an offended tone. She hated how everyone patronized her and she wanted to slap every motherfucker who did so.

"There are a lot of risks going out there in your shape" Hershel told her softly. "And not just for the baby, but for you. Your immune system is weaker now and you're more affected if you injure yourself. Plus, all that stress could harm the baby."

"I'll be even more stressed if I stay here and have to stare aimlessly at the clouds" She told him in a matter of fact tone.

Daryl pursed his lips before dragging her away so they could speak more privately. "I want you to go" He told her and looked her deeply in the eyes. "I do. I know Sophia won't be happy when she sees that me of all people is there to save her. She needs you and you are the first person she would run to, except for her mom. But..." He stopped and scratched his head. "I don't want you to hurt the baby. I know you don't want it and I understand that. Hell, I wouldn't want it either if I was you, but I already told you that I'm ready to do this with you. I'll even take it and raise it on my own if you don't want it, so please-"

"Do you think you could?" She asked somberly and crossed her hands over her chest.

"Yeah" He nodded. "I think so."

"Okay, you say this now, but when the time comes and it's actually out there, will you really be ready for all that responsibility?" She asked and raised her brows. "Will you be ready to care for another living thing twenty four-seven, to make it your first and only priority, to lay down your feelings and put its instead of yours?

"It's a big question and I don't mean to sound like I don't believe you, but this is a serious thing. I know I don't want it and I'm pretty much stuck with it, but you, you don't _have_ to do anything. It's not your blood, it's not your doing-"

"It _is_ my blood" He begged to differ enthusiastically. "I'm not the father, but we have the same blood. We're kin all the same."

"Okay, but-"

"Please, Armageddon" He said and interrupted her. "I'll be everything this baby needs, just take care of it until then."

Armageddon pursed her lips and said nothing. She had no idea what to say to that. He sounded so sincere and had so much love in him to give, so she neither wanted to promise him or break his heart, so she just stared back at him before she eventually nodded. "Okay" She said quietly and disrupted their eye contact. "But, promise me one thing," She said and met his eyes once more.

"What?"

"Bring her back."

When the two returned, people were filing out. "We're running short, gotta make a run into town" She heard Maggie say to her father.

"Take Shane with you" Rick suggested.

"No, it's okay, there's a pharmacy, a couple of miles down the road. I've done it before" She told him.

"I'll come with you" Armageddon said and met her eyes. "I'm a fast runner and that was what I did back when we had a camp; went on supply runs. I know what I'm doing."

Maggie looked her over and then nodded. "Okay."

"Take Glenn instead" Rick said, interrupting the two and completely killing Armageddon's dreams. "You see that guy over there in the baseball cap, he's our go-to-guy when it comes to supply runs."

Armageddon pursed her lips and fought the urge to punch him hard in the teeth so that he would lose his and she would fracture her knuckles. "No offense," Maggie said and directed her words to Armageddon. "But, I'd rather take him."

Armageddon looked from her and glared at Rick, mentally telling him that if he would so much as breathe another word to or about her, she would not hesitate to break his nose, before she stormed away, feeling tears well up in her eyes. _You're an encumbrance. You're useless, nothing but trouble to them,_ she thought to herself as she fought the tears in her eyes and the sobs that tried to escape her throat. She hurried to the RV and was hoping she could disappear there and cry, but was stopped at the entrance by Dale.

"Armageddon? Are you all right?" He asked with concern as he saw tears running down her eyes.

She tried to pretend she was fine and throw on a nonchalant demeanor, but it backfired badly on her and she ended up bursting into tears and pushing past him inside so that no one would see her like that. Dale, much to her displeasure, followed her inside and closed the door behind him. He took her into his arms and she let him hold her as she cried into his chest. She had had enough. It broke her heart that she just wanted to help, but no one thought she was valuable enough to be of any help because of the unwanted child inside her.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Dale asked her softly and stroked her back as she cried her eyes out.

"I'm useless!" She cried and felt herself crumble in his embrace as she said the actual words. They had been swarming around in her brain for a while, but saying them aloud confirmed everything and made it all ten times worse.

"What? No! You're not useless" He reassured her and stroked her back even more. "Far from it."

"Just because I'm pregnant I can't do anything!"

"That's not true."

"Everyone thinks so" She argued and felt weak in her knees as the facts rained on her. _I really am useless_.

"Why would you think that?"

"' _You should do this 'cause you're pregnant_ ', ' _you can't do this 'cause you're pregnant_ ', ' _I don't want you to come with me on a supply run 'cause you're pregnant_ '."

"No, that can't be it" He said softly and shook his head. "Everyone just wants you to feel your best during this pregnancy and you've been pretty sick lately so that might be why it would be better if you wouldn't go on a supply run."

"I'm not gonna be sick and of no use for nine fucking months!" She cried out and felt dread wash over her just by the thought of being made to sit on her ass and stare at the ceiling while the baby inside her grew.

"Of course not."

Armageddon cried and felt the urge to scream at the top of her lungs, but she kept it inside just because she didn't want to attract unwanted attention to her. "I didn't even want this baby" She mumbled into his shirt.

"That's completely normal. My kids weren't planned either" He said in a reassuring tone and really thought he was making her feel better.

"No, you don't understand, I didn't want this baby or _anything_ that has to do with it" She told him and met his eyes.

"Do you mean Daryl..." He asked her and narrowed his eyes at her before pausing. "He-"

"No! No! Just forget everything I said" She exclaimed and shook her head.

"Armageddon, this is a serious matter" Dale said soberly.

"It wasn't Daryl."

"Then who?"

Armageddon pursed her lips before looking away. "Mac" She whispered and felt a shiver go down her spine as she said his name.

"Oh, my god" He said and sat down, taking his hat off his head and stared wide-eyed at it, as if there was something to see inside it before he met her eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"This needs to stay between us" She told him and wiped the shed tears off her cheeks.

"Why does Daryl say he's the father? Is he covering up for him?"

"He's covering up for me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm enough of a burden by being the pregnant woman" She told him and threw her hands up in the air. "I don't need to be the woman carrying a rape baby. I don't _want_ to be that woman."

"So, you're just not gonna do anything about this?" He asked her shocked and raised his bushy, white brows at her.

She shook her head. "No, and neither will you."

He was about to speak up but she cut him off. "You will not breathe a word of this to anyone" She said and approached him. "'Cause if you do, I will find one of those guns that you're hiding and I will shoot myself in the head. I'm not joking and if you try to prevent me, I'll find another way. I _will not_ have to live with this fact or let anyone pity me for it."

"But," He said, but she shook her head and shut him up.

"No buts. I don't want this getting out or getting 'justice' for what happened" She told him. "All I wanted was to live a happy life with my two husbands, not be stuck in the apocalypse and carry a child created by rape. There's nothing that can fix that so there will be no trying to."

"Armageddon, we have to do something" He insisted. "He can't just walk around free to do whatever he likes to whoever. We can't have this happening again to someone else."

"I knew you would say this, Dale" She said and sighed. "But, if you banish Mac, you banish Daryl and me too. We're unfortunately a package deal, since Mac won't go anywhere without his brother and Daryl refuses to let me out of his eyesight. If you want to help me, you will keep this a secret. All of it. I never came here to cry, nor did I confess anything to you."

"You don't have to feel bad about-"

"I don't feel bad about anything" She told him. "I know none of this is my fault, but I am stuck with the consequences and not you, so I am the one who gets the say and gets to make the decisions here. Not you nor Rick or anyone else. Is that understood?"

Dale scratched his chin and looked away for a long time before he eventually nodded and met her eyes. "Yeah, it's a deal."


	22. Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies

Armageddon watched Lori, Dale, T-Dog and others of the group approach a well in the middle of a field of grass and furrowed her brows at them. She was sitting beneath an oak tree in the shade from the burning Georgia sun and read _Casino Royale_ , which she was halfway done with. She was in the middle of an intense fighting scene between James Bond and the main villain and managed to sink pretty deep into the book, forgetting all about her anxiety about Sophia, her pregnancy and morning sickness and even forgot that there was an apocalypse raging around the world.

She was completely snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Glenn tying a rope around his waist and hesitantly approached the well. She stood up, put the paperback in her back pocket and hurried over to them, reaching the group right before they started hoisting Glenn down. "What's going on?" She asked with furrowed brows.

"There's a walker down there" Andrea told her and pointed downwards. Armageddon followed her finger and saw the ugliest creature ever to walk the face of the earth. It was bloated to the max, its eyes slits and it looked more like a dead version of Sloth from _the Goonies._

"Oh my god" She mumbled and felt her stomach churn as she watched it growl and amble around down there. "So, what's your solution? Switch it with Glenn?" She asked dubiously and raised her brows at them.

"No, he goes down, puts the rope around it, we take it up and then we've got more fresh water" Shane told her and motioned to the extra set of rope beside Glenn, that he was supposed to use on the walker.

"You really think it hasn't contaminated it yet? I mean," She said and looked down at it. "It looks like it has been there since the beginning. There's every chance that that water is already disgusting and undrinkable."

"We've got no time to argue" Shane said and waved his hand dismissively at her before looking at Glenn. "You ready?"

"Yeah" Glenn said under his breath and nodded. He stepped onto the edge of the well and Dale and T-Dog lined up behind Shane to help ease him down. The rope was looped around a rusty, old pump to balance things out and so that all the weight wouldn't be on their hands.

"This is a stupid plan" Armageddon mumbled and watched as Glenn slowly disappeared down the well before joining Andrea and the rest in easing him down.

"A little lower" Maggie said as she watched him go down. "A little lower."

The pump started to shake and Armageddon realized that it was going to collapse and that he might die just a second before exactly that happened. The pump collapsed because of the weight and dragged Shane, her, Andrea and the rest towards the well and thus, lowering Glenn even further down. Everyone was screaming, Glenn especially who had the loudest voice in Armageddon's opinion, and struggling to hold him up because they were determined not to let another group member die. Armageddon was down on her knees pulling upwards and holding on as hard as she could and was too intent on getting Glenn back up to safety to start screaming or panicking. She had already let Sophia down, she was not going to let him down too.

"Get me out of here!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Oh god, get me out of here!"

T-Dog was right by the well and held onto the pump and everyone else was behind him and helped him pull everything up, but it was tough because the pump was extra weight that added up to everything else.

"No! No!" Glenn yelled out. "Oh my God! Get me out of here!"

They finally managed to take control and drag him up and suddenly, Glenn was up and out of the well, embraced by Shane on the ground as everyone sighed in relief. "You okay?" Lori asked him again and again. "You okay?"

Glenn only huffed and tried his best to catch his breath as he gathered his wits and told himself that he was still alive. "Back to the drawing board" Dale sighed and threw his hands up in the air.

Glenn laughed and got up to his feet. "Says you" He said cheerfully.

"You genius bastard!" Armageddon exclaimed with a bright smile on her lips. "You did it?"

"Yeah" He said and handed Dale the rope. The rope that Glenn had gone down with, the one that had been loose the whole time, now felt stuck and when they checked down, they saw that it was around the walker.

The walker was even heavier than Glenn and it took all of everyone's strength and more to hoist it up. They even had to get a horse to help draw it up. The walker's growls echoed through the well and got louder and louder the more they pulled. The walker finally showed its face and Armageddon could feel her stomach twist and turn as she saw it. She looked away, but she couldn't help seeing it at the corner of her eye. Finally, it was halfway up, its protruding belly up in the air and she could see a belt and the hem of jeans peaking up from the well and she thought that this was finally almost going to be over. But, instead of managing to get it all up like with Glenn, the body ripped open and the lower half fell back down to the well while the upper body was up on the ground. Guts and intestines hung from it and even more had fallen down, along with so much blood, that Armageddon didn't need to see it properly without retching. She threw the rope away and sprinted from the group, making some distance between her and them before her last meal came spewing up. She had thought that she had it good and that the morning sickness wasn't going to affect her as bad as the other days, but she was dead wrong as she vomited everything there was to vomit and some stomach acid when all of the food was gone.

It got even worse as T-Dog through the pump down on its face and hit it again and again until there was nothing left but a bloody pulp. Now, it was even uglier than before and Armageddon wheezed as she threw up. There was vomit leaking down her mouth, chin and nose and there were tears streaming down her face from all the effort. "Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shooting it" He said after he permanently killed it, before throwing away the pump and walking away.

Dale hurried to Armageddon and patted her back as she retched for the last time. "Get it all out" He said softly and helped holding her hair back.

She spat the last of everything and wiped her lower face before standing back up straight and met his eyes. "Thanks" She mumbled.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah, that was just-" She said and spat again. "Disgusting."

When Glenn and Maggie returned from their run, one of the first things Maggie did was seek Armageddon out. The pregnant girl had returned to her previous spot; beneath the oak tree and with _Casino Royale_ in her hand and she dreaded every time she turned a page because she knew she was about to be finished with it. She had spent the entire day reading and she both enjoyed it and regretted it because she knew she then had to get another book and she wasn't sure when she finished Dale's how many she would find that would actually peek her interest and let her forget about the world around her, if not just for a minute.

"Hey" Maggie said and snapped Armageddon back into reality.

She looked up from the book and met her eyes. "Hello."

"I'm sorry about earlier today" Maggie said before taking the backpack off her shoulders and thrusting her hand into it. "Here, I got some things for you."

She handed Armageddon a pacifier, a baby bottle, vitamin D, iron and calcium in pill form and a _What to Expect When You're Expecting_ book. Armageddon took the items from her and sincerely wished that this wasn't happening. "Uh" She mumbled mindlessly and looked over the stuff she now had.

"It's for the pregnancy" Maggie told her.

"I see that."

When Armageddon said nothing, Maggie pursed her lips before getting back on her feet. "You're welcome."

Armageddon remained quiet and watched her go, wishing more than anything that she wasn't in this situation. That she hadn't been denied to go on a supply run because she was pregnant and then letting it be rubbed in her face. She knew Maggie just wanted to help, but she should have just minded her business and let Armageddon be, in her opinion.

She was about to continue reading when Daryl approached her. She frowned. "You didn't find her?" She asked him when he was up close. He stunk of sweat and looked scruffy, his skin a darker color because of all the sun exposure and the dirt and grime that he left unwashed and only added up day by day.

"No" He answered quietly and sat down beside her before picking up the baby bottle and the book Maggie had given her. "What's this?"

"Maggie, Hershel's daughter, went on a supply run and came back with this among other things" Armageddon told him and shrugged casually. Daryl grabbed _What to Expect When You're Expecting_ and paged through it. "You want it?"

Daryl met her eyes and raised a brow at her. "You're not keeping it?"

"No."

"It might be useful."

"I don't care" She told him and shook her head. "I don't want some non-fiction, how-to by a bored, rich middle-aged broad that has nothing to do in her housewife life except spread old wives' tales."

"Okay" He shrugged and put the book in his back pocket. "What about the rest? You gon' get rid of that too?"

"No" She answered and shook her head. "That might come in use some day."

"I can keep it for you if you want" He suggested and his pure blue eyes shone with care.

"That would be great" She answered and a small smile tugged at her lips. "Thank you."

"Shouldn't you keep the pills?" He asked as he gathered the pacifier and baby bottle. "If you want them?"

"Yeah, I'll keep them" She nodded.

"You still sick?" He asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yup" She answered. "I had a pretty hard time this afternoon."

"Oh" Daryl mumbled and picked up a straw growing on the field before putting it between his lips and chewing on it. "Ain't that a good sign, though?"

"I guess" She shrugged before meeting his eyes and flashing him a weak smile. "I wish it wasn't."

"I know."

"How much of the forest have you not explored?" She suddenly asked him and raised a brow. "You know, a likely place of where she'd go."

"I still have some left" He answered and looked away, scratching his chin and looked over the group, which was scattered all over the farm. "But, I'll find her soon."

"I hope so."

"Are you craving anything?"

"What?"

"I've heard that pregnant women get weird cravings for food; sour pickles and all that" He said and met her confused eyes. "Do you get any of that?"

"No" She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure that won't happen anytime soon since I'm not even a month in."

"Okay, but if you do, let me know."

"Why?"

"Just because" He shrugged. "I told you I'd take care of the baby when it'd come, so until then I will take care of you... In, you know, the pregnant sense."

Armageddon chuckled and found herself smiling genuinely. "Thank you, Daryl, but you really don't have to."

"I know, but I'm gonna" He told her before standing up. "So, whatever you want, just tell me and I'll do my best to get it for you."

He was about to turn around and leave but she stopped him. "Um, I have been craving potatoes, but I don't think that's a pregnancy thing" She said hesitantly.

"What kind?"

"Just, whatever" She said and shrugged. "Boiled, fried, potato salad, chips, mashed, baked. Just not sweet."

"Not sweet potatoes?"

"No, never really liked those."

"Okay" He nodded and looked to the farmer's house. "I'll see what I can find."

"No, you don't have to-" Armageddon started but he shut her up by putting his hand up before turning around and headed away, leaving her excited to the small possibility that he might actually satisfy her long-awaited craving.

At nightfall, Armageddon found herself in the loner party with the Dixons, feeling like she was reliving the past when they lived at the camp; she and the three Dixon brothers at the end of the camp, while the rest of the group huddled up by a fire and communicated. Now, the only difference was that they were missing a Dixon; Merle. Well, that wasn't the only difference as she had noticed both she and Daryl had become more popular and liked among the group members and she also noticed that she saw less and less of Mac. All of these were good signs in her opinion and she would have wanted it to be permanent, but she had nowhere else to stay then with the Dixons, since she had turned down a bed in Hershel's house because of her pride. She did not regret it until she found herself in Mac's atmosphere and she wished she was anywhere else but there. Daryl and Mac talked a little bit and Armageddon stayed quiet and barely even listened to them, just staring at the small campfire Mac had made and watched the flames dance around her as she let her thoughts roam.

She realized as Mac grunted that he was going to sleep, that they only had two tents. One was Mac's, the other was Daryl's. Hers had been left behind because she had forgotten it by the highway as her mind had been on finding Sophia and only that. That meant that she would have to sleep with Daryl. She found herself becoming less and less mad at him, she knew she couldn't stay like that because he was always so kind and caring to her and showed her no sign to be mad at, but she knew she would never forgive him for taking away her chance to choose her death.

She met his eyes by accident as that thought swam about in her brain. "You go in, I'll sleep outside" He told her and motioned to the black tent behind him.

"No, don't sleep outside" She said. "It's your tent, you should be the one sleeping in it."

"I'm not the one carrying a baby."

"Well, I don't want to sleep alone" She told him quietly. "I've been sleeping next to somebody for almost over ten years now and I can't get over the uncomfortable feeling that something is missing every time I try to fall asleep alone. Plus, it helps me sleep better."

He nodded and let her go first inside before following her. He gave her most of his sleeping bag and tried to take as little space as he could, despite her telling him that it was okay. He noticed, barely an hour after she fell asleep, that she kept crawling closer and closer to him before eventually settling down in his embrace, with her head on his chest and a leg draped over his lower body. He knew she was asleep while she did that and he knew she wouldn't like that when she woke up, but he didn't have the heart to move her. Plus, it was comforting to have someone in your embrace like that, to feel their heat radiate to you and become in sync with their breathing.

The next day, Maggie approached Armageddon by the group's little camp, where she had just emerged out of Daryl's tent and was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Hey," She said when she was close enough.

Armageddon met her gray eyes and furrowed her brows. "Hey."

"Can we talk?"

Armageddon pursed her lips before glancing around, meeting every pair of curious eyes before nodding and stepping away from the group with the farmer's daughter. "What do you want?" She asked when they were out of hearing distance.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday" Maggie told her sincerely. "I was way out of line and I felt bad for excluding you-"

Armageddon zoned out as she spoke as she did not have an attitude to tolerate bullshit today. She had had an awful dream last night about Mac raping her and it did not get any better when she woke up alone and the first person to greet her when she left the tent was Mac. He was a constant reminder of the baby that was inside her and he was the reason why people stopped taking her seriously and put her into the 'just another woman' category. In their eyes, she was no longer strong enough to take walkers down on her own, in their eyes she was not fit to go on simple runs anymore, in their eyes she was no good except for useless movie information. "It's okay" She finally said and waved her hand dismissively as she realized Maggie had stopped talking and knew it was now her time to speak up.

"No, it's not" Maggie said and shook her head. "I have no idea what you're going through, but I can imagine it must be hell. Glenn told me that you and him used to frequently go on runs together and that you had saved his butt more times than vice versa, and by the way Rick talked about you, I believe it one hundred percent. I'm sorry that I didn't want you to come with me yesterday, you just looked so sick that I was afraid that maybe you wouldn't be able to handle it."

"I'm perfectly capable of telling when I am and when I'm not able to handle going on runs" Armageddon told her in a voice that was pretty bitchy, even for her taste.

"Yeah, I know" She said and nodded. "I had hoped to make to up to you by bringing you stuff for your baby, but I realized when I gave them to you that it wasn't my place to do so."

Armageddon pursed her lips and looked away before meeting her eyes. "You know what? I'm thankful you did anyway" She said candidly. "You brought me shit that I wouldn't for the life of me think I need and when I would finally realize what I need, all of that shit would be gone and unavailable. So, thanks for bringing that. I just, I'm not quite in the baby-state-of-mind, so that was why I reacted like I did yesterday. Nothing personal."

"It's perfectly understandable" She told her. "I mean, I wouldn't be either if I was in your shoes."

Armageddon wanted to scoff because of that sentence, but held it in as she knew a bitchy attitude was no place for an apocalypse. Just because Maggie had no idea about what she was going through or how things happened, didn't mean that Armageddon had the right to give her shit about it. So, she smiled and pushed away her negative thoughts. "Yeah."

"Let me know if there's something I can do for you, if you need help with something. Just anything, holler."

"Thanks" Armageddon said and nodded. Maggie smiled back before turning on her heel and heading back to the house.

She stopped in her steps and turned around when she was twenty feet away. "Maybe you could help me later with the horses?"

"Sure" Armageddon called back.

"Great."

She had gotten to use Hershel's bathroom, where she took a shower and washed away all the dirt and grime that had gathered on her skin since the CDC, then she got a clean T-shirt from Maggie, so that she almost felt normal again. She was offered trousers and even underwear also, but Armageddon had come to love the baggy, camouflage pants with the six pockets on them and she was not ready to let them go. Plus, she felt weird enough wearing Maggie's shirt, she didn't want to feel like transforming into some Christian farm girl who loved horses and had never left her hometown. She had just settled down beneath her favorite tree, with Casino Royale in her hand and had just started the second-to-last chapter when Daryl approached her.

"Hey" He said and snapped her attention from the book.

"Hey" She said and squinted as she looked up and tried to meet his eyes. The sun was right on his back and made it hard for her to look directly at him.

"I'm gonna go back and look for the girl" He told her. "I'm takin' a horse and gonna go explore the higher points of these woods, maybe I can see something from there."

"Okay."

"Shane said somethin' about trainin' people to shoot tomorrow, thought you might be interested."

"Yeah, I am, thanks" She said and a small smile entered her lips. "Good luck on finding Sophia."

"I don't need luck" He scoffed.

"Yeah, you do" She told him. "Luck's the only thing that's gonna get you to find her at this point."

"What do you mean?" He asked and furrowed his brows at her, looking at her in confusion.

"It's, what? Day four? Five? You've practically combed these woods, or at least the parts where she most likely would be, by now she's already a walker or has gone her own way."

"Gone her own way?" He repeated and furrowed his brows even more.

Armageddon shrugged. "She thought she was going to the highway, judging by what we found a few days ago, and when she realized she wasn't, she probably tried to get out of the forest and try to find her mom again. Maybe, she's not in that forest anymore. Maybe she's somewhere around it, trying to find the highway or us, but can't find nothing."

"Don't say that" Daryl said and shook his head. "She's fine and I'm gonna find her."

"I hope so" She said and nodded. She wanted to go with him, but she knew that he wanted to go alone. She sighed and was about to go back to reading the book, when she spotted Shane nearby. She jumped to her feet and hurried to him, where he was limping towards the camp. "Hey."

"Hey" Shane said. "How's the baby?"

"I don't know, probably doin' fine" She answered and frowned at his question. "I heard you'll be teaching how to shoot guns tomorrow."

"Yeah, you interested?"

"Oh, yeah."

"I'm surprised you haven't already shot a gun before" He said and chuckled to himself.

"What do you mean?" She asked and furrowed her brows at him.

"Well, most action-movie fanatics visit the gun range once or twice in their lifetime" He answered in a matter of fact tone before meeting her eyes. "You've no idea how many guys Rick and me have arrested because they'd seen too many movies and wanted to be Bonnie and Clyde or Danny Ocean."

Now it was Armageddon that chuckled. "Well, I've always wanted to go to a gun range and try, but I never went around to do it" She admitted. "Plus, never really saw an occasion to go, other than to try and see how it feels like."

"So, I won't have any problems with you going to the biggest gun and firing off like you're in Die Hard shooting Germans?" He asked and they both laughed.

"No, rest assured, I will not do that" She assured him.

"Okay, great" He said and flashed her a smile. "Can't wait to see you try tomorrow. Who knows, maybe you've got a hidden talent for shootin'."

"Maybe" She said and as she watched him walk away, she felt just a tad bit of happiness gnaw at her. She finally felt included and was treated like an equal and not like a child and she was so happy for that.

Armageddon had just finished the book when Andrea called out. "Walker! Walker!"

She looked up and saw Glenn stopped in his steps after emerging from the RV after a talk with Dale. She stood up even though she knew Andrea could handle this on her own with a great sniper in her hands and checked it out. The walker was maybe a mile away, emerging from the woods and was at the other end of the field, which was closed off by a wire fence. She had no idea why Andrea was freaking out because it would take that walker probably half an hour to get to them, _if_ it managed to get past the wire fence, and anyone with a sniper like she had would manage to incapacitate it.

"Just the one?" Rick asked and approached the RV before stopping beside Armageddon, squinting his eyes as he tried to make out that walker. Andrea picked up the binoculars and looked through them.

"I bet I can nail it from here" She said and Armageddon wasn't sure if she agreed with her or not. Snipers had a good and accurate scope, she knew, but it took a person with skills to actually work it.

"No. No!" Rick said sternly. "Andrea put the gun down."

"You best let us handle this" Shane said with a pickax, T-Dog was right behind him with a crowbar.

"The cavalry saves the day, yet again" Armageddon said sarcastically and got glares from both Rick and Shane.

"Shane, hold up! Hershel wants to deal with walkers" Rick told him and tried to stop his best friend.

"What for? We got it covered" Shane said carelessly and did not slow down his pace.

"Damn it!" Rick exclaimed before running after them.

"Andrea, don't!" Dale said as Andrea went down on her stomach on top of the RV and waved the sniper, trying to get it into the perfect position.

"Back off, Dale" She muttered under her breath.

Armageddon knew the three men had this and didn't need Andrea to be some helper to them, but she knew Andrea was stubborn and was not going to change her mind. Stupid, because the sound of a gun firing off would be loud enough to attract more walkers, but stubborn. She squinted her eyes and took a couple of steps closer as she realized she knew that face that had emerged from the woods. It was Daryl.

Andrea pulled the trigger and sent him down to the ground.


	23. Cold Granite

Cold Granite

She gasped and held her breath, her every muscle tense to the core, before she realized she was running. She ran as fast as she could towards the men and hoped to God that Daryl wasn't dead. Somewhere in the background, Rick screamed, but she didn't hear it. The only thing she could hear was Daryl's voice when he promised her that he would take the baby off her hands after she would give birth to it and take care of it like it was his own. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized that he had been the only light in her dark, cruel world. She had lost her husbands and she was never going to see them again, so he tried to comfort her - not romantically or physically in any way - but by being by her side and showing that he cared. She was raped by his brother and he took her side and when she learned she was pregnant, he decided to take it upon himself to say that the baby was his. And when she showed how little she wanted that baby, he promised that she wouldn't have to have it, that he would and she wouldn't have to do anything but give birth to it and then he would take it completely. But, now, that light was gone because Andrea thought she was being helpful.

When she was close enough, she saw Rick and Shane help Daryl up to his feet and made him lean against them both. He was in _bad_ shape. His skin was pale, there were blood stains on his face and body and he had a DIY necklace of ears hanging around his neck. Armageddon was in too much of shock to say anything, so she followed the men as they carried Daryl away.

"Oh my God!" Andrea cried out as she and Dale ran over to them. "Is he dead?"

"Unconscious" Rick answered. "You just grazed him."

"You son of a bitch! This is your fault!" Armageddon snapped as she realized the turn of events and was about to jump Andrea when Dale stopped her. "The fuck were you thinking?" She yelled at the top of her lungs and pushed Dale aside, only to be held back by T-Dog. "They told you no! They told you they would handle this! How fucking stupid are you?"

Andrea had no words for her, so instead she started sobbing, while Armageddon fought in T-Dog's arms, filled with rage. "Let go of me!" She exclaimed.

"Not until you calm down."

"I need to go with them!" She said and watched as Rick and Shane continued to carry Daryl towards the house.

"They've got it covered, Daryl's gonna be just fine" T-Dog told her calmly.

"Don't fucking patronize me!" She hissed before kicking him so hard in the shin that he let go of her and fell down grunting to the ground. She took one look at Andrea before marching up the field and towards the house. She saw Hershel take the lead as they led him inside and she realized that she might just be in the way if she tried to go in with them, so she took a U-turn and headed for the camp. Someone had to tell Mac.

She found him in his tent. "Mac?"

"What?" He grunted and his head peaked out of his dark tent. "Come here to let me get a piece of that sweet ass again?" He asked with a smirk, his eyes digging into her skin and making her feel so uncomfortable that she fought the feeling of turning around and running away.

"Something's happened to Daryl" She told him and ignored his remark.

The smirk on his face vanished and he hurriedly climbed out of his tent. "What?"

"He's been shot."

"Where is he?" Mac asked and looked around.

"They took him to the house-"

Mac didn't wait to hear the rest of what she had to say and started running towards the house before she stopped him again. "Mac, wait!"

"What the fuck do you want, bitch?" He exclaimed and approached her so that they were almost body-to-body and his face was inches away from hers. As he stood there, glaring at her, Armageddon felt out of breath and tongue tied. Her head was racing, she couldn't focus on anything, her heart was beating so fast that it was threatening to escape from her chest. She hadn't been this close to him since before Merle disappeared, before she realized she was pregnant with his rape baby, and now, when she was this close to him and could smell his stinking breath, she felt completely weak. Her knees trembled and her hands shook. Her body told her to run but her head told her to stay, stand her ground. She had completely forgotten what she was going to say to him as he stared her down, and he did not wait long enough for her to gather her wits and was gone before she knew it.

When he was completely out of her sight, she realized how she looked to the outside world and quickly looked around, checking if anyone was staring, before she raced into Daryl's tent, where she knew she would be alone. She was in too much shock to cry, she felt no tears or sobs forming, but she knew she needed to be alone with her thoughts. Something was going to burst and she wanted to be alone while that happened.

Daryl was in a spare bedroom on the other end of the house. It was the last door on the left and she knew that Carl was in the room beside his because she could hear Lori speaking softly from that room. She knocked on the door quietly, waited a few seconds before coming in. "Hey, can I come in?" She asked and her eyes searched the room briefly before she met his. It was a small room that consisted of a large twin bed, a desk, a small window which was covered up with thick curtains and a crucifix hanging on the wall. Daryl lay on the bed with the sheet up to his chin.

"Sure" He grunted before looking away, averting his eyes from her gaze and to somewhere else.

She approached the bed hesitantly. "How you doing?" She asked him and slowly sat down on the chair by the desk. His answer was an incomprehensible grunt. He had a bandage on the right side of his head and she guessed that was where Andrea had shot him. As she had no idea what to say now, she kept her mouth shut and let silence sweep the room for a moment.

"I found her doll" Daryl grumbled before clearing his throat. "Sophia's."

"You did? Where?" Armageddon asked and felt her interest peak.

"On the other end of the creek" He told her.

"So, she actually made it that far?" She asked stupendously.

"Yup."

"Oh my God" She mumbled. "Maybe she really is somewhere out there."

"She is" He assured her. "And I'm gonna find her."

"Not anytime soon, I hope."

"What?"

"In your shape" She told him in a matter of fact tone. "Daryl, you were shot. Now it's time to slow down."

"No one else can find her" He said and shook his head.

"I will."

He met her eyes and raised a brow. "Now that you are like you are and need to heal, I'll take over. I haven't been sick the whole day, it's all getting better and I trust myself to start wandering the woods till I find her" She told him determinedly.

He grunted and gave a little nod, his way of approval, not that she needed it. "I also got an arrow in me" He told her quietly.

"What?"

He pulled down the sheets to reveal an even larger bandage on the side, right beside his stomach. "The horse threw me off a cliff right by the creek and on the way down, I got an arrow right there" He told her and pointed to his side.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" She asked and seemed even more worried than before.

"I'm fine."

There was a knock on the door shortly after and Carol peaked her head in. "Armageddon, it's time for dinner" She told her before looking at Daryl. "We'll bring you some food later."

Armageddon and Daryl exchanged looks before she stood up and followed the older woman out the door and to the dining room where the whole group and Hershel's family had gathered around by a large table. Armageddon saw that Mac was missing and pondered if he had deliberately not been invited or if he had been, and he had declined the offer. She thought the first was likelier and thought less of the group as she sat down on a vacant chair beside Shane. She noticed, as she sat down, that she had maybe sat down on the wrong table. There was a separate table for the younger table where Maggie, Glenn, Maggie's younger sister and a young man who was barely eighteen sat together. On the other table, people were much older, no one under thirty five, but Armageddon brushed that thought away and dug in the food that was offered.

The food that was served was pork, gravy, mashed potatoes and vegetable salad. It was pretty bland, but it was the best bland food Armageddon had ever had in a long time. If this was pre-apocalypse, she wouldn't have been too happy as she could make better food herself, but, since she had no working electricity, a kitchen or even actual food to work with, she was really grateful toward Hershel and his people to be so generous as to share a meal with them. The atmosphere around the dining table, however, was awkward and a little bit tense that she almost didn't notice until Glenn tried to break the ice. "Does anyone here know how to play guitar?" He asked and looked over to the other table. "Dale found one the other day. I mean, someone must know how to play."

There was silence as he waited for an answer before a woman, Patricia Armageddon thought she was called, spoke up and made things even worse. "Otis did" She said quietly.

"Yeah, and he was very good too" Hershel said sincerely and met her eyes.

When dinner was over, Armageddon thanked Hershel for the dinner and excused herself. She knew Carol had brought Daryl dinner and she knew she wanted to have a talk with him to express her gratitude for trying his best to find her daughter, so she decided to leave them be and go to the room beside his; Carl's.

She knocked on the door lightly and was greeted by Carl, who was thrilled to see her. "Hey, champ" She said and met his eyes before flashing him a smile. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, of course" Carl said and sat up, smiling back at her.

"How're you doing?" She asked and sat down on a chair that was near his bed. The room was similar to Daryl's, but it was larger and brighter.

"I'm really good, Mom says I can go out and walk soon" He said enthusiastically.

"Does it hurt?" She asked and pointed to the bandage on the side of his body. Unlike Daryl's, his was on the left.

"Not really" Carl told her and shook his head. "It used to, but now it's just more uncomfortable if I cough or something."

"I see."

"Have you ever been shot?"

"No" Armageddon chuckled and ran a hand through her hair.

"My dad has" He told her. "And he said that because now I have too, I get to keep his hat."

"Ah, you're so lucky" She told him and frowned. "You have no idea how close I came to stealing that hat 'cause it looks so cool." He laughed and his cheeks turned a little red as she told him that. "Don't worry, though, I won't steal it from you."

"I know" He said and smiled.

She was about to engage in more conversation when Lori walked in and practically glared at her when she saw her sitting there. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came here to chat" She answered and felt flustered at that question and how she glared at her like Armageddon had been the last face she had wanted to see. She stood up, knowing that Lori would soon ask her to leave.

"Mom, don't be mean" Carl said before his mother could say any more.

"Carl, stay out of this" Lori said and approached her. "Can I talk to you outside?"

"Sure" Armageddon said and met Carl's eyes. "It's good to hear that you're feeling better."

"What were you doing?" Lori asked as soon as she closed the door behind them.

"I was checking on Carl" Armageddon answered nonchalantly.

"Why?" She asked and furrowed her brows at her, as if she couldn't understand why she would ever think of doing such a thing.

"Because I figured he hasn't been visited by anyone else but his parents and Hershel and that he might be getting bored" Armageddon told her. "He's been bedridden for a couple of days now, staring at the ceiling with nothing to do but wait until he gets well enough to go out and socialize. Now, he doesn't have a friend his age to hang out with since Sophia is missing, and before all of this happened, he expressed his thoughts and feelings in a friendly way to me so I figured-"

"You stay away from him" Lori said and cut her off, not wanting to hear any more of what she had to say. "He has enough people around him, he doesn't need you being in the way."

"What's your problem?" Armageddon asked and raised her brows at her. "What have I ever done to you that makes you hate me so much?"

"You attacked Andrea, for one thing" Lori told her in a matter of fact tone.

"And I admit that was not right-"

"You are a vulgar, foul sociopath and a bad influence for my son. I don't want him around some... whore."

Armageddon didn't realize what she had done until her palm suddenly stung. She had slapped Lori on the cheek as hard as she could and she could see the cheek becoming very red. Lori stared wide eyed at her before turning on her heel and going straight to Carl's room and slamming the door behind her. Armageddon felt bad immediately and wished she hadn't reacted like she had, but her words had really hurt and she had been genuinely shocked by them. She knew that now history might repeat itself and she would be scowled at once again because she had assaulted another group member. This time it wasn't as harsh, but she knew Lori would twist the story to make Armageddon seem like a complete psycho.

She turned and was about to storm out when she met Dale's brown eyes staring at her. "You saw all that?" She sighed.

"Yes" He answered quietly. "You did not react the right way, but it was understandable judging by what she said."

"You heard it?"

"Of course."

Armageddon closed her eyes and sighed. "Fuck my life" She muttered before meeting his eyes once more. "I don't want to deal with any more drama."

"You won't, sweetheart" He assured her and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'll make sure everything will be straightened out if there will be any trouble."

Instead of responding to that, Armageddon walked past him and went to Daryl's room. "You want company?" She asked as she stood in the doorway.

He had been picking at his food when she came in, but focused his attention on her immediately. His answer was a nod. "You okay?" He asked when he noticed the troubled look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine" She told him and waved her hand dismissively as she sat down on the edge of his bed.

"You don't look it" He commented. "Is it something about the baby?"

"No" She answered and met his eyes once more. "I slapped Lori."

"Why?"

"She called me a whore."

He grunted and nodded, as if he agreed with her actions.

"The worst part is that I know she's gonna twist all of this around and make it sound like I had no reason to do so. I got enough bad looks after what I did to Andrea, I don't know what will happen now."

"They won't do shit" He said and shook his head. "You're pregnant, they can't touch you."

"She's still Rick's wife" She argued.

"If they give you shit, then I'll give them shit" He told her and sat up. "Don't worry about it."

"I will worry about it" She told him and sighed. "And you will do no such thing, I don't need no one sticking up for me."

"Too late for that" He said and she wrinkled his nose at him. "Me n' Mac'll stick up for you till the day we die. That's what you get when you joined us."

"I didn't really join you" She said and pursed her lips, thinking about that fateful day when the apocalypse hit and she was forced into Mac's pickup.

"I ain't gon' let nothin' happen to you" He told her sincerely. "Nor the baby."

Armageddon pursed her lips and looked away as she had no idea how to respond to that. "You- you wanna sleep with me tonight?" He asked her hesitantly and caught her attention once more.

"If you don't mind" She said quietly and nodded. He nodded back and moved to the side, making space for her. She removed her bra without taking off her shirt and took off her trousers before crawling under the covers with him. She felt a little bashful for removing her clothes, but she could not for the life of her sleep in her bra and she had been looking forward to taking off her trousers all day. Daryl didn't seem to mind and gave her as much covers and space as she wanted.

Armageddon emerged from Dale's RV right before noon with a new book in hand. She had chosen an old cop thriller by a man named Stuart McBride and it is about a veteran detective named Logan McRae. It sounded interesting enough and she was thrilled to start reading it, but was snapped out of her thoughts when Glenn walked over to her with a basket full of fruit. He hadn't even managed to offer her some as she started digging in. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed and took out a peach. "You have no idea how long I have been craving for actual fruit."

"Take as much as you like" Glenn told her as she took only the one peach.

"Aren't you giving it to the others, too?" She asked and raised a brow before taking a bite of that peach. It was so ripe that a drop trickled down her chin.

"No one's gonna mind if you take more."

Armageddon pursed her lips and was about to say no when she spotted some jerky at the bottom of the basket. "Mind if I take some for Daryl too?" She asked after taking a bit out.

"Of course, go ahead" He said and smiled at her. "How are you doing anyway?"

"I'm not sick, if that's what you're asking."

"Okay, that's good" He said and nodded. "Any other pregnancy symptoms? Cramps? Pains? Cravings?"

"You make it sound like I'm on my period" She commented and chuckled.

"Well, I don't know what women go through while pregnant."

She laughed and shook her head. "Frankly, neither do I" She confessed before taking a banana and some jerky out of the basket. "Thanks for this."

Daryl was up and about when she came a-knocking. "Sorry if I'm being annoying" She said as she came in. "I just thought you might like this."

"You're not annoying" He told her and shook his head before taking the jerky. "Don't really like bananas."

"Good to know" She said and unwrapped it. She had finished her peach and was planning on saving the jerky, so she decided to eat the banana that he rejected. "So, you free to go?" She asked with her mouth full.

"Yup" He answered and grunted as he picked up his crossbow.

"Let me" She said and was about to try to take it from him, but he moved away from her.

"I can handle it."

"It's okay, it doesn't make you any less of a man if I help you carry it" She said and tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't hear it.

"I got it."

She threw her hands up in the air in defense and watched as he made his way out of the room, way too quickly in her opinion.

Gun practice was a fifteen minute drive to the edge of the woods where everyone practiced on shooting bottles. Shane gave Armageddon a few tips on how to stand and called her out a lot of times for being too tense and for her to loosen up a little if she wanted to hit the target, but soon enough, she was hitting everything she aimed for and even sooner became the top of her class. She was a natural and she could barely believe it when Shane complimented her on it.

After that, she spent the rest of the day by the camp, reading. She had gotten five chapters in when Maggie came marching up to Lori and started yelling at her for making her and Glenn go on supply runs especially for her. She tried to zone out and get back to the book, but something Maggie said caught her attention. "We got your special delivery! We got your lotion, special shampoo, conditioner. Oh, and here's your abortion pills!"

"Maggie!"

Armageddon jumped to her feet only to see Lori, Glenn and Maggie standing there and no pills in sight. "Abortion pills?" She repeated and raised her brows.

"Mind your own business" Lori hissed.

Armageddon ignored her and turned her attention to Maggie. "Got any more where that came from? I can go by myself, I just need to-"

"No!" Maggie yelled out. "No, there ain't no fuckin' pills left!" She was clearly pissed off about something, what? Armageddon had no idea and she couldn't care less as she turned to face Lori.

"What can I do for you to give them to me?" She asked with great desperation in her voice. "Please, I'll do anything. Just give them to me."

Lori didn't say anything, just turned on her heel and strutted away.

"Lori!" Armageddon called out and followed her. "Please!"

"Stop following me!" Lori exclaimed. "This is none of your business. Scram."

"What do you want me to do?" Armageddon asked again and tears formed in her eyes. "Please, I'll do anything. I mean it."

Lori looked at her in confusion and furrowed her brows. "This isn't my prob-"

"You have no idea where this baby came" Armageddon cried out and a sob escaped her throat. "Please, I cannot live like this. I can't have it."

"What about Daryl?"

"This isn't his decision."

Lori only shook her head. "Leave me alone. And don't breathe a word about this to Rick."

Tears ran down Armageddon's face as she watched Lori walk away and fake a smile to Rick, who stood in the doorway of Hershel's house and looked at her in confusion. She knew there was nothing she could do, if she were to run up to Lori and try to get the pills, she would be stopped by Rick and deemed a lunatic for attacking his wife and she would make up some bullshit story about her that he would believe and Armageddon could find herself being banished or put into 'detention' like Jim had been when he suffered a sun stroke.

She wiped her cheeks and tried to get rid of that nasty depression that washed over her, and things did not get better as the first pair of eyes she met were Mac's. He stared at her, looking beyond her eyes and into her soul, undressing her with his eyes and doing unforgivable things to her in his mind. She averted her eyes, but she couldn't stop feeling his eyes on her, so she ended up running away from camp and as far away from everything as she possibly could. She wished dearly that they were back at their camp by Atlanta where she actually had a hiding spot for these sorts of situations, but she knew she could find a similar spot in the woods. Not because it was secluded, but because she knew no one would dare coming into them at dark. Who knew what lurked behind those trees after dark? Armageddon didn't and she couldn't care less. If this baby couldn't die, then she would.


	24. Gone Girl

Gone Girl

"I think you should consider giving Armageddon those pills" Dale said to Lori in a soft voice when he found her by herself in her tent.

"What?" Lori asked surprised. "You heard that?"

"Only some of it" He answered. "She's had a really tough time and I, frankly, don't think she's ready for something like a child."

"Then she shouldn't have had unprotected sex" She said in a matter of fact tone and did not seem to care at all.

"What if I told you-" Dale started but was cut off by Armageddon.

"Shut your mouth, Dale" She said and emerged from out of nowhere. "Lori has already made her decision and no one's gonna change that." Their eyes met for a few second before Armageddon disrupted the eye contact and looked at Dale.

"But-" He started, but she wouldn't hear it.

"But, nothing. Deal with it" She said and shook her head in a frank tone. "I have."

"Deal with what?" Daryl suddenly chimed in.

"Nothing" Armageddon said and hurried away as she knew she would not want to have this conversation with Daryl.

"Armageddon, wait" Lori said and jumped to her feet, following the younger girl. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"About what?"

"About what I said to you in the house" Lori told her and felt flustered. "I was in a bad mood - I feel so helpless because of what happened to Carl - and I took it out on you when I know I shouldn't have."

Armageddon met her eyes and furrowed her brows at the woman. _What?_

"I know nothing about you and I shouldn't make assumptions like I did. I know Andrea has forgiven you for what happened and almost everybody has moved on and I have too" She continued and shook her head before sighing. "What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for calling you a sociopath and that I take it all back."

Armageddon stared deeply into her eyes and tried to evaluate what was going on and why she was being told this, before she eventually nodded and her lips stretched into a small smile. "Thank you" She said sincerely.

"I have no idea what you're going through and I hope we can be friends" Lori continued. "But, I can't give you the abortion pills."

"First comes, first gets, I get it" Armageddon said casually and shrugged.

"No, I mean, I took them all and-" She told her and paused, looking around before meeting Armageddon's eyes. "I threw them all up."

"What?"

Lori nodded and her brown eyes shone with regret. "You did what?" Armageddon asked and did her best to contain her fury.

"I threw them up" Lori told her as if Armageddon hadn't heard what she said.

"What the fuck? Why?" She exclaimed and threw her hands up in the air. "If you knew you weren't gonna-"

"I didn't" Lori told her and cut her off. "I was going to all the way until I had swallowed them all, then I realized I had made a big mistake."

Armageddon crossed her arms, pursed her lips and looked away. She didn't want to hear any more of this. She didn't want to be around Lori for any longer either. If she could, she wouldn't see her for a long time. "I hope this can stay between us" Lori said and caught her attention once more. "I don't want this to travel all around camp and-"

"You're secret is safe with me" She mumbled and waved her hand dismissively. "If there's someone here who knows how to keep their mouth shut, it's me."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

"No, really" Lori said and suddenly hugged the younger woman. "Thank you, Armageddon."

Not long after that Armageddon caught sight of Rick and Lori arguing and she knew that she wouldn't have to keep her secrets for very long. She heard Lori's voice break, but she could not understand what they were saying. Not that she needed to. She understood Lori, or at least in that situation; this may be _their_ baby, but it is _her_ body and her decision. And it is a hard one.

The whole group gathered around by the little camp they made on Hershel's farm to eat eggs that he had spared them. Daryl had given Armageddon his lawn chair, even though she had expressed that she was fine with sitting on the ground. Carol went around and served everyone and Daryl demanded that she give Armageddon a bigger ration than everyone else, since she was pregnant, and no one complained except Armageddon who tried to object and reason with him, but he did not listen to her.

"Um, guys" Glenn said and caught everyone's attention. He seemed nervous as he stood in front of everyone and braced himself for what he was about to say. "So... The barn's full of walkers."

"What?" Armageddon asked and furrowed her brows. "How do you know?"

"I was walking around and I heard the groans from inside" Glenn answered. "And then I crawled up to the hayloft and saw them."

"How many?" Daryl asked.

"A dozen, probably."

"You're moving to the house" Daryl said and turned to Armageddon.

"What?"

"It's not safe out here."

"Daryl's right, it isn't safe out here, living so close to a barn that looks like it could easily bust if the walkers would try to escape" Shane said. "We need to do something."

"Hold up, hold up" Armageddon said and stood up. "You all felt safe up until this moment when Glenn came up with these news. We've been here for probably a week and nothing bad has happened. They," She said and pointed to the house. "They've been here the whole time since the apocalypse went down and they seem just fine. Now, I don't know how sturdy that barn is, but I'm sure that we're just as safe now as we were before we heard this. It's something I learned in psychology."

She stopped talking when she realized no one was listening to her and sat back down, pretending like she hadn't said a word. "You're moving to the house" Daryl repeated himself.

"You don't tell me what to do" She retorted and put her plate down. She had had enough of eggs and had lost her appetite. Not because of the latest news, but because she felt too offended that no one wanted to listen to her rationality. This wasn't their place, their home, and it was none of their business.

"It's not safe" Daryl argued before lowering his voice and moving even closer to her. "And I don't want you so close to Mac. He might..." He paused and pursed his lips as he really didn't want to finish that sentence.

"I'm just as safe now as I was before" She said and shook her head. She didn't want to talk about this anymore, so she stood up and walked away before he could say anything else.

The group went to the barn to check things out, while Armageddon stayed behind. She had been raised all too well to disrespect her hosts. She could hear Shane and Daryl arguing about finding Sophia and Rick trying to sort things out, which ended up escalating with Daryl almost jumping Shane, who was ready for the fight, but everyone stopped the two. She was snapped away from that fight by a person that appeared next to her.

"You really gon' kill that baby?" Mac's scruff voice asked, making her turn her head and meet his icy blue eyes.

"If I could, I would" She answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Then why don't you?" He asked and cocked his head to the side.

"I can't" She answered and shook her head.

"Why not?" He asked and raised a bushy brow at her.

"Lori's got the only abortion pills and no one's willing to help stick a wire-hanger in me to try and kill it" She answered. "Why do you care?"

"Just askin'" He answered and shrugged casually. "Daryl really cares about that baby. Caught him readin' in that pregnancy book today. He wants it."

She stared at him in surprise and confusion as she processed his words. This was the first time Mac had ever shown that he cared about another person than himself and it astounded her. She didn't understand why he was there, talking to her about this of all things, and she had no idea how to respond to what he had just said. "I've noticed" She said and nodded slowly before looking away because it made her uncomfortable staring at him for too long.

"He's nothin' like me and Merle" He continued. "He's better. He's got a good heart and he's the only one like our mom. Except maybe that douchebag leprechaun you call a husband."

"Murphy is not your brother" She growled. The reason why Armageddon knew the Dixon brothers was because seven years ago, the MacManus brothers had gotten the news that they really weren't brothers. Ma only gave birth to Con and had adopted Murph from an abusive home and because they were the same age, she had decided to call them twins and lie to the both of them until that fateful day when they were sixteen when they found out that lie. Murph's real family were rednecks living in Georgia; an alcoholic dad, a dead mom and three older brothers. It was hard to believe, especially for poor Murph and they had all come to terms after Murph met them, that _this_ was the lie. He had been raised believing Ma was his mom and Con was his twin brother, so that was what he was going to believe and deny the 'truth' about his lineage.

Mac's answer was a scoff. "Don't break his heart" He grunted and caught her attention. She watched him leave and pursed her lips as she processed his words. That might as well have been a death threat; if she killed the baby, Mac would kill her because that was how Mac stood up for his kin.

Armageddon had been taking a walk around the farm, when she came across a pissed off Daryl, marching past her, nostrils flaring and grunting with every step in pain as he held his side, practically fuming. "What's wrong with you?" She asked him.

"Nothin', I'm fine" He grunted and did not slow down or acknowledge her presence in any other way but responding.

"Daryl-"

"What?" He exclaimed and turned around, meeting her eyes. "What the fuck do you want?"

She was taken aback by his sudden outburst, and before she even got the chance to retort, he continued. "You don't want to be here! You don't want to live. You don't want to have a baby, which prolly gon' be the only baby-"

"Lori's pregnant" She said, interrupting him before he could say more.

He paused and narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"Yep."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, before turning away and continued back to camp. He soon stopped and marched right back up to her. "Carol's given up on her daughter" He told her and met her eyes. "She don't think we're gonna find her."

"Well, we gotta be realistic-"

"No" He said and stopped her. "We don't gotta be nothin'! That girl's out there and she's fine. What if that was your baby..." He stopped and looked away from her, his eyes filling with tears that he wiped away immediately.

"Daryl," Armageddon said and pursed her lips before taking a step towards him with her arms in the air. He moved away from her, but she did not let that stop her from getting in his way and taking him into her embrace. He did not fight it, he just stopped dead cold before resting his head on her shoulder and gently wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I don't wanna sit around and do nothin'" He muttered quietly.

"You won't be doing nothing" She told him softly before meeting his eyes. "You'll be taking care of me, since I'm not allowed into the woods or into the group's search party."

"But, you don't want to be taken care of."

"That don't mean that you won't do it" She told him in a matter of fact tone.

He pursed his lips and nodded curtly, knowing she was right. "I talked to some broad there" He told her as they walked back to camp before pointing to the house. He looked down to his feet and exhaled. "I was gonna do this at a better time," He started but shook his head.

"What?" Armageddon asked him and cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out what he was trying to say.

"I got you some potatoes" He said and finally met her eyes. "Just like you wanted."

She smiled and stared at him in disbelief. She remembered when they were talking about her pregnancy cravings and she remembered mentioning potatoes, but never in a million years did she expect him to actually bring her potatoes to eat. "Really?"

"Yeah" He nodded. "Sit down," He said and pointed to his lawn chair that was beside a spot they used for cooking. "I'mma bring them to you."

Ten minutes later she was watching the water in the pot boil with the potatoes boiling inside, staring in disbelief. She never knew she would be so happy to see something so casual as potatoes boiling. It reminded her of the simpler, safer times and it also made her heart warm because of the sweet gesture. Daryl brought her a plate and a fork and even offered to run to the house to get something to eat with it, but she told him that this was more than enough and made him sit with her. She realized that maybe he really was fit to father the baby inside her. He really was willing and able to take care of another being and love it like nothing he had ever loved before. It was a handsome and heartwarming sight.

The potatoes were a little bit hard and chewy because they had taken them out a couple of minutes too soon, but did Armageddon care? No. She was just happy to eat potatoes again, no matter how well they were cooked. She loved the starchy taste of them because they reminded her of her home in both Ireland and Iceland. It was a nice and comforting feeling that she even shared with Daryl, to try to lighten his mood and to let him get to know her better. She knew, though, that his mood had lightened the second he saw how she smiled when he told her he had gotten her potatoes.

"Armageddon!" Shane called out. "Armageddon!"

"What?" She said and approached him and the rest of the group as they had gathered around the house.

"It's your time to shine" He told her and handed her a sniper.

"What?" She repeated and furrowed her brows. The sniper was heavier than the last gun she held, maybe two or three kilos, and as she held it, she felt like she held three kilos of pure responsibility, like when you drive for the first time with a passenger and know that the only person keeping them safe and alive is you at that moment.

"You got yours" Shane said to Andrea before handing T-Dog a gun.

"Yeah, where's Dale?" She responded in confusion.

"Thought we couldn't care?" T-Dog asked and furrowed his brows.

"Yeah, well, we have to" Shane muttered before raising his voice and addressing everyone around. "Look, it was one thing when we were picking daisies when this place was supposed to be safe. Now it ain't." He looked over to Glenn. "How 'bout you, man? You gon' protect yours?"

Glenn's answer was taking the shotgun that Shane handed him. "That's it" Shane said in approval, while Maggie stood beside Glenn and stared at him wide-eyed in shock in anger.

"Can you shoot?" He asked Maggie.

"Can you stop?" She retorted before raising her voice. "If you do this, if you hand out all these guns, my Dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane" Carl butted in.

"What is going on here?" Lori asked and got in the middle of them.

"We're not going, okay?" Shane told them. "Hershel. He's gonna understand. He's gonna have to. Now, we need to find Sophia. Am I right?" He asked Carl and handed him a pistol, putting the eight year old right on the spot. "Huh? Then why don't you take this? You take the gun, you know how to use it and you'll keep your mother safe. Go on, take it."

Lori pushed her son away and stood before Shane, fuming with anger. "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make" She hissed and practically spat out venom.

"Oh, shit!" T-Dog exclaimed in shock and directed every person's attention on him before they all looked to Rick and Hershel who had walkers on leashes and were leading them right to the barn. Daryl stood beside Armageddon and reached out for her hand instinctively, as if showing he was there to protect her and keep her and the baby safe.

"What the hell?" She mumbled and furrowed her brows at that sight. She found it disturbing, suffice to say, but she, unlike almost everyone else in that group, knew she would not do anything to get in the way of that because this was Hershel's farm, which meant Hershel's decisions, not Shane's or Rick's or anyone else's.

"What is that?" Shane mumbled before he took to his feet and ran over to them. Everyone by the house followed. "What is that?" He yelled.

"Shane, wait!" Rick grunted and ordered him to stay back.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked and did not sound the least bit pleased.

"Are you kidding me?" Shane exclaimed and pointed to the two men handling the two dead men. "You see? You see what they're holding onto?"

"I see _who_ I'm holding onto" Hershel retorted.

"Nah, man, you don't see."

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk" Rick said and tried his best to handle both Shane and the walker he held onto.

"What you wanna talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick! They ain't people! They're dead! Ain't gon' feel nothin' for them 'cause all they do is kill! They kill, these things right here. They are the things that killed Amy, they killed Otis! Man, let me tell you something. Would a living, breathing person be able to walk away from this?" He said and drew up his gun before firing three shots into the chest of one of the walkers.

"Shane, stop this!"

"That's three rounds to the chest. If someone was alive, could they just take that? Why's he still coming?" He yelled out before firing two more shots into the chest. "Its heart, its lungs, why is it still coming?" He asked before firing two rounds again.

"Shane, enough!" Rick yelled out.

"Yeah, you right, man" He said, walking towards the walker. "That is enough." He put his gun against the walker's head and fired the last shot, sending it down to the ground and making it effectively dead. Everyone gasped and stood aghast, trying to comprehend what happened and who to justify. Hershel let go of the leash, so the walker fell down on its back, and looked devastated, so did the rest of his family. "Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn that's full of things trying to kill us! Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before."

"No, Shane, enough with you!" Armageddon yelled out. "This ain't yours to decide."

Daryl grabbed her hand and shook his head, as if to tell her not to go on, but Shane hadn't been listening either way, as he pried open both locks that held the barn closed and opened it up.

The first walker to emerge from the farm was a bald man, who looked like he had sustained a head injury and was wearing blue coveralls. Then came a woman, then a man, and soon there were too many to list up. Armageddon hated to do it, but she took up the sniper rifle she had been handed, put the scope against her eye and joined Shane, Andrea and Daryl in shooting them. She didn't always manage to hit the head right away, which just meant that she wasn't trained well enough, but she got it and took down a few of them in the end.

The firing finally ceased and the last walker fell down to the ground and did not try to crawl back up. Armageddon huffed and tried to catch her breath, as well as trying to get her ears to stop ringing from all that noise. Her shoulders were tense and she knew she had not been in the right position and Shane would have called her out if he had seen her, but at the same time she knew she had still managed to hit the target so she did not beat herself up about it. She stared at the barn and a part of her told her that this wasn't quite over. She knew, deep down, that there was one or two left in there.

She was proven right when one last walker emerged from the barn. It was a little girl, with short, blonde hair wearing a blue T-shirt and looked to have been about ten to twelve when she died. Armageddon gasped and dropped her rifle, feeling a shiver crawl down her spine and got goosebumps on her entire body when she realized that walker was Sophia. Carol screamed at the top of her lungs and was about to run over to her when Daryl stopped her and took her into his arms, holding her tightly so she wouldn't run off.

The air was completely silent as Rick slowly walked over to Sophia with his gun in his hand. He took one last look at her frail, little, dead body before he fired a bullet into her head and sent her to the ground.


	25. Mac & Me

Mac & Me

 _"Are you afraid of anything?" Sophia asked Armageddon as they sat alone by camp. Amy and Andrea were fishing, Dale and Glenn were on top of the RV and conversing, Mac and Merle were at their usual spot, sitting on their lawn chairs and chain smoking with Ed Peletier and the rest of the women were washing the laundry. Carol had asked Armageddon to watch over Sophia as she had requested to be with Armageddon than to be helping her mother clean their clothes, and Armageddon accepted happily._

 _"What do you mean?" Armageddon chuckled. "Of course, I am."_

 _"You're always so strong and brave. Whenever a geek comes, you don't even scream" Sophia said enthusiastically. "You're not afraid of my Dad or Mac, no matter how mean and scary they are..." She stopped and pursed her lips, looking away. "I wish I was like that" She said and met her eyes again. "I wish I was as strong and fearless as you."_

 _"I'm not fearless" Armageddon told her and shook her head._

 _"What are you afraid of?"_

 _"Geeks" She answered in a matter of fact tone. "I don't scream when I see one, but that doesn't mean I'm not terrified every time I see one, no matter how many times I've encountered one."_

 _"You don't show it."_

 _"Well, everybody shows off their fears one way or another" Armageddon said and shrugged. "Some scream and cry while it happens, others freeze and can't do anything. Me, I go into overdrive and when it's done, when the geek is permanently dead, then I sometimes cry and freak out."_

 _"I've never seen you cry" Sophia commented and shook her head._

 _"I don't like to cry in front of others."_

 _"I understand."_

 _"And you know what? Mac isn't that scary" Armageddon told her and interrupted the silence that had swept over. "He's just a broken soul that doesn't know how to deal with his pain and anger. You don't have to worry about him."_

 _"Mom says I should stay away from him" The young girl objected and stared at her with big, blue eyes._

 _"Your mom's right to worry, but Mac would never do anything to you. Kids don't bug him, they might annoy him, but he would never do anything to you. The ones who should fear him are grown women."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Because he likes to take his anger out on them."_

 _"Why?" Sophia asked again and didn't seem to understand why anyone would do a thing like that._

 _"Because that's what his father did and it's all he knows" Armageddon answered and glanced his way, but looked away immediately when she felt his eyes on her. "Then, after his mom died, something inside him decided that he had to be just like his father; find a woman like his mom and-" She pursed her lips as she didn't want to go into much detail in what he would do._

 _"My Dad's like that too" Sophia admitted quietly. "Mom says that it's just like Mac; he doesn't know what to do with his anger, so he takes it out on someone close to him."_

 _Armageddon sighed and pitied the girl so much that she wanted to cry. She wanted to get up to her feet and drive her knife into her father's eye, so that he would never hurt her again. Sophia was just a child, a sweet, innocent little girl that did not deserve to have the family life she had. She deserved to have two loving and caring parents, not just one while the other one was a violent drunk. "Well, I'mma make sure he doesn't do that again" Armageddon promised her and put her arm over the girl's shoulder. "If he does or is about to, just call out my name. I'll come running and protect you."_

 _"You promise?" Sophia asked and looked up, meeting her eyes and stared at her with hope glimmering in her light blue eyes._

 _"Yeah, I promise" Armageddon promised sincerely. "Nothing bad's ever gonna happen to you 'cause I'll protect you. That I swear."_

Armageddon spent the rest of the day crying and vomiting. She had barely had any morning sickness the last two days and she had been surprised when her stomach did not start churning when she encountered the walkers in the barn. She had believed that she would feel fine, but after witnessing Sophia's decaying corpse walking out, it was all over. She had barely managed to run to the camp when everything came spilling out. Daryl had run over to her and helped hold her hair back as she vomited out everything in her body but her intestines. She had somehow managed to vomit on his shoes, even though he stood behind her, but he didn't seem to care, and did not leave her side the whole time.

"Guess we gotta start packin'" She said when she finally calmed down.

"Whadd'ya mean?"

"'Cause Shane has sent us all out with what he did" Armageddon said and wiped her mouth with the durag Daryl had handed her before wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands.

"They won't send you away."

"Why not? 'Cause I'm pregnant?" She asked and raised her brows. "I took part in killing those walkers and right now, I'm just as normal as every other woman here. I don't think he cares and even if he did, I wouldn't stay here while you all left."

"Maybe he'll let me stay with you."

"What about Mac?" She asked and cocked a brow. "He won't leave without you."

Daryl pursed his lips and nodded as he realized she was right. "He's not gonna send us away" He ultimately said. "Any of us. Rick'll convince him to let us stay."

"I doubt it."

"Don't. It's not good for the baby."

Armageddon scoffed before falling to her knees and hurling once again.

"Mac, can we borrow your truck?" Andrea asked him.

"Why?" He grunted and stared at her lustfully, clearly undressing her with his eyes.

"We're gonna bury the dead."

"The ones from the barn?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" He asked again and raised his brows.

"Because we bury the ones we love" She answered impatiently. "Look, can we borrow it or not?"

"You ain't borrowin' nothin'" He told her and got to his legs. Despite his words, he got into his red pickup and drove it over to the barn and informed the people there that he was there to move the bodies to where they were going to be buried. Armageddon watched all of this happen and wondered what in the hell made Mac actually contribute for the first time in his life. Maybe it was because he was the only one in the group with a truck able to carry all those bodies, or maybe there was just a shred of decency inside him that drove him to do that. She watched as he, Daryl, Rick, T-Dog and Shane loaded the bodies to the truck, before standing up and walking over to where Lori, Maggie, Andrea and others who had started digging.

She grabbed a shovel and ignored their remarks and questions if she was really able to be digging. They had obviously noticed how she had reacted, or maybe they could smell it on her breath, but she didn't care. She had not spent enough time searching for Sophia when she had the chance, and when she realized that no one wanted her help, she had sat back and watched instead of ignoring them and doing it anyway. Her guilt weighed on her shoulders heavier than anything else and it was the only thing that drove her on to stick the shovel as far down in the earth before moving the dirt and slowly making a grave.

Daryl came over to her when the truck showed. "You okay?" He asked her. She huffed and pretended like she didn't notice the multiple beads of perspiration running down her forehead.

"I'm fine" She grunted and continued digging.

"This isn't necessary, Armageddon, you don't have to-" Lori started but Armageddon shut her up.

"Fuck off" She said breathlessly and used what little strength she possessed to continue. Everyone saw it on her that she was tiring very fast, but they all knew that if someone were to stop her, they would get her fist in their face.

The funeral was short and silent and sorrowful. Nobody wanted to say anything and everyone mostly kept to themselves. Daryl grabbed Armageddon's hand when it was over and she let him lead her back to camp, where she asked him to lay down with her in his tent. They both knew he couldn't say no to that so they ended up lying inside, Armageddon resting in his embrace and trying not to cry as she realized that everyone around her was slowly disappearing from her until there was no one left.

They had gotten to do this peacefully for about fifteen minutes, then Lori came running and requested that she would come up to the house to check on Hershel's other daughter, Beth. Knowing she could not deny and because she wanted to contribute to staying here, she left the tent and almost immediately missed being held by Daryl - more because it reminded her of being held by Con or Murph.

"I don't see what help I can be" Armageddon said quietly to Lori after checking up on the distressed teen who lay frozen in her bed and stared into the abyss. "I mean, the fact that I'm here is making things worse than better."

"Oh, come on, don't beat yourself up-" Lori started, but Armageddon cut her off.

"No, there are people crowding her and that doesn't make anyone feel better, especially when she doesn't even know more than half of them" Armageddon told her in a matter of fact tone. "I took a few courses in psychology, I did not get a doctorate, but I know that much. So, you, I, Andrea and Glenn should just give her space and-"

"This isn't natural, look at her! She needs her father" Lori said.

"Yes, exactly, and he's on his way" Armageddon said before looking around and meeting most people's eyes. "Maybe you two should stay with her since you are the ones she loves and needs the most, and the rest of us will make ourselves scarce because we're not doing any good."

"I don't think-" Lori started but Maggie cut her off.

"She's right."

Lori stormed away and muttered something about getting someone to go, while Andrea and Armageddon stood by the girl's door. "You go rest. I know you need it" Andrea said to her. "I'll be on watch."

"I don't think there has to be a watch."

"It'll be better if someone were here if something happens."

Armageddon nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

She didn't really want to leave the house because she had just as little to do outside and inside, so she went downstairs and looked at the bookshelves the Greene family had to offer.

"You see anythin' you like?" Maggie asked after Armageddon had spent a good while looking through the titles.

She jumped, startled, before chuckling. "Not really" She answered and looked from the books and to Maggie. Hershel had a lot of encyclopedias, books about AA and alcoholism and a couple of classic literature like _Catch 22_ and _Moby Dick_ , both of which Armageddon had read and found boring.

"Yeah, my Dad was more into the boring stuff anyway" Maggie said and Armageddon realized she was making conversation.

"Everyone has their own taste" She said and shrugged before meeting her eyes and squeezed out a smile. "Though, I do agree, his is kinda boring."

"Yeah."

"How are you holding up?"

"What do you mean?" Maggie asked and raised a brow.

"I mean you saw your mom and step brother and maybe somebody else you knew out there die. That must've been tough" Armageddon answered and crossed her arms over her chest. "If you wanna talk, I'm the group-appointed shrink."

"You're a shrink?"

"I took a few courses in psychology and that apparently makes me one to them" She told her and shrugged before chuckling dryly. "But, I'm serious, though, I may not know you personally or know life's answers, but I know how to listen and how to keep my mouth shut."

"Thank you" Maggie said with genuine gratefulness in her tone. "You said 'must have been' earlier, have you never lost anyone?"

"I was married before all of this" Armageddon told her and decided to fib a bit with her story, since she probably had been raised in a strict christian household where polygamy was frowned upon. "He lived in Boston and I was here in Georgia when it all happened. There's a thousand miles between us and probably over seventy million dead people, so he might as well be dead already."

"You can't think like that" Maggie insisted and frowned, feeling genuinely sorry for the young woman and her pessimistic thoughts. "What about the baby?"

"It's not his" She told her and shook her head. "It's-"

"Daryl's?" She asked and raised her brows, making Armageddon look away and purse her lips. "It's okay, I won't judge you. It's the end of the world and we might as well die tomorrow, so why not have sex with someone? I mean, that's kinda why I slept with Glenn."

"That's not the point" Armageddon said and shook her head. "It doesn't matter, I didn't come here to talk about myself, anyway" She said and squeezed out a chuckle once more.

"You seem like you need it, though" Maggie commented. "I'm good at keeping secrets too, you know."

Armageddon pursed her lips as she had no idea how to respond to that. She knew she built up walls that were impenetrable when the apocalypse hit and she didn't let anyone come close - mostly because she built up an antagonized attitude after spending such a long time solely with the Dixons - and the first person she was finally being able to open herself up to was Daryl, and she knew it was not good for a person to do so, but she couldn't help it. She hated opening herself up to anyone but Murph and Con, who she shared her every thought, feeling and wish with. She was afraid that people would judge her and that frown upon her if she did, and that had happened a couple of times - among those times was when she revealed that she was married to two men at the same time - and she felt only Daryl wouldn't because he had known her for so long and because he just didn't have it in him. He wasn't raised like regular people, he wasn't filled with prejudice or scorns for others. He really didn't care about others, but the people he really did care about were people that he would do anything for and that meant he wouldn't judge or frown upon. Maggie, however, might and Armageddon regretted immediately saying that to her since she had every right to request the same from her.

"Nah, not today" She eventually said and shook her head. "I really don't wanna think about my own feelings today."

"Well, you know where I'm at if you do" Maggie said and flashed her a quick smile before going back upstairs. Armageddon watched her go before turning on her heel and leaving the house, knowing she was of no use there.

"Come on, dinner's getting ready" Armageddon said as she approached the new campsite that the two Dixon brothers had set up, further away from where the rest of the group were staying.

"Dinner's already over" Mac informed her as he munched on potato chips. "We ain't invited to fancy folks' home so we make our own."

"No, if you had waited a little bit more patiently, you would have been invited, like I'm doing right now" She informed him in a matter of fact tone.

"Not everyone's as privileged as you, dumbass."

Armageddon furrowed her brows at him before she looked at Daryl, who avoided her eyes, before scoffing and walking away. "Whatever" She mumbled as she walked away. She rather wanted pot roast than squirrels, but apparently they didn't.

Rick, Glenn and Hershel had not made it back in time for dinner and she was surprised to learn that Lori had gone out after them when she seemed to be missing too. "Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?" Shane asked him with furrowed brows.

"This afternoon" Carl answered.

"She was worried about Rick, asked me to look in on Carl" Andrea informed him.

"She went after them?" Dale asked.

"She didn't say that."

"No need to panic," Shane said as he stood up. "She's gotta be around here somewhere" He said as he left the dining room, only to be followed by the rest of the group. Armageddon sat there and watched them leave, munching on bread that was served and wondered if she should take part in searching, before eventually getting up and joining them.

After some time of looking, Carol finally came back with answers. "She asked Daryl to go into town" She told them. "Must've gone herself."

Armageddon knew there was nothing left for her to do then, so she turned on her heels and headed straight for the Dixons. "You done playin' house?" Mac grunted as he watched her approach them.

"What do you mean?" She asked and raised a brow before sitting down beside Daryl in front of the little campfire they had made.

"I said, you done playin' house with the rest of them? Pretendin' everything's fine."

"I never said I was" She told him and shook her head.

"You ain't have to" He said. "Always leavin' us to be with them-"

"You expect me to stay by your side every second of every day?" She retorted and raised her brows.

"I don't expect anything from a floozy bitch like you."

"Great, 'cause no one's asked for it, asshole."

"Come on," Daryl said to her and stood up. She watched him do that before getting up and following him as he walked away from Mac and their little campsite. "I think you should move to the house."

"This again" She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Mac's been in a bad mood since Merle was left and I don't want you to be around him like that" Daryl said before meeting her eyes. "For your and the baby's sake."

She pursed her lips and looked away. "I think it's too late for that" She mumbled.

"What?"

"That first day, Hershel offered me a room in their house and I said no" She told him. "I don't wanna come crawling back and beg for him to let me stay, especially not after what happened today."

"I'll do it for you."

"Then, there's to say _if_ he comes back" She commented and crossed her arms over her chest. "He's been missing all day since that thing with the barn. He might've run off or even gotten killed."

"Nah, he's fine" Daryl said and waved his hand dismissively.

"How can you know that?" She asked him dubiously.

"I just do" He answered shortly and shrugged. "I'll talk to him as soon as he comes back, until then, stay at the house."

"So, you're banishing me?" She asked and raised her brows.

"I'm protecting you."

She put her hands up in the air in defeat. "Fine, sure" She mumbled and met his eyes once more before turning to the house and walking away.

She found Dale by his RV, worrying about Lori. "D'you mind if I stay in the RV?" She asked him and snapped him back to reality.

"Of course, not" He told her and let her in. "Make yourself at home."

"Thanks" She said and flashed him a quick smile. She made herself comfortable in the couch/bench, lit a candle and started reading the latest detective novel that she borrowed from Dale, hoping to kill time and take her mind off everything. Armageddon had managed to read about six pages when she fell asleep.

She woke up in the middle of the night with Daryl standing beside her. "Hey" He whispered. "Come on."

She mumbled something inaudible and rubbed her tired eyes. She could hear Dale snoring in the bedroom and she thought she saw someone sleeping on the bench beside hers. "What time is it?"

"It's late" He answered before picking her up and carrying her out of the RV. She made no complaints and wrapped herself around him, as she felt too tired to get up on her own.

He carried her all the way to the house and put her in the bed where he had stayed in when he was shot, two days ago. He helped her out of her shoes before tucking her in with the sheets, wrapping her like a bun. "You just gonna leave me here?" She mumbled, half asleep as he turned around to leave.

"Yeah" He whispered.

"Okay" She sighed before everything went black once more.


	26. A Touch of Hope

A Touch of Hope

The next day when Armageddon woke up, it took her a while to realize where she was and why. She remembered Daryl carrying her into the house, but nothing more than that and she wondered why he had gone through the trouble when she had been just fine at the RV. There was no one inside the house when she emerged from the room and she sighed in relief, knowing that she now wouldn't have to explain herself. Outside, T-Dog, Shane and Daryl were loading guns to Shane's car. "What's going on?" She asked when she got closer and saw that even Andrea was ready to go.

"We're goin' out to find Rick" Daryl answered.

"Let me go with you" She said determinedly. "I haven't left this farm for so long that I'm dying to get out."

"We're fine" Andrea told her and flashed her a reassuring smile. Armageddon looked from her to Daryl before meeting Shane's eyes and felt fury wash over her.

"Is this because I'm pregnant?" She asked and tried to keep her voice steady even though she was bursting with anger on the inside.

"Daryl doesn't want you to go-" Shane started but she cut him off.

"Daryl's not the boss of me."

"Look, if you'da come here sooner then you could've had a chance" Shane told her. "But, four people are enough. We don't need any more."

"Bullshit" She spat and desperately longed to punch them all right in the nose. "If anyone else would ask to come with, you'd happily say yes. This is just because I'm pregnant and you suddenly think I'm weak and unable to fend for myself."

"I'm not gonna argue with you" Shane told her and went to his car. "Let's go!"

Armageddon watched them go and growled under her breath, her hands balled into fists and she fought the urge to punch the nearest person as hard as she could. Instead of acting out on her urges, she grabbed a gun, stole a couple of empty glass bottles and stormed right into the forest. She was going to waste a few bullets and take her anger out on a tree or a walker. Dale tried to stop her, but she paid him no mind and marched away, quickening her pace so that the old man couldn't catch up with her and soon, she was alone. She crawled over the barbed fence before disappearing into the forest.

She found solace in the large, vast and mostly empty woods. She was alone with herself, except for the small woodland creatures that ran past her like their life depended on it. She looked over her pistol and wondered if she could hit a squirrel as it raced up a nearby tree, though she quickly brushed that thought away as she knew she might have been good at hitting still targets, moving ones, were going to be trouble. She also knew better than to try to practice on the squirrels as it would be a waste of bullets and would only attract danger upon her and the farm, since she was still so close to it. She wanted to walk for an hour or so before she felt safe enough to fire and know that it wouldn't be heard across the farm and it wouldn't attract anything to it either.

She thought about Daryl as she walked in silence and she thought about how much she hated him. No, hate was such a strong word, but she seriously disliked him at that moment. She disliked him for revealing to everyone that she was pregnant when she had thought he, of all people, would keep his mouth shut about it. She just thanked God that he hadn't already revealed who the father of the baby was, even though it wouldn't surprise her if he eventually did. He kept on doing stupid things that he thought were for her own good, but in fact, he just made her life a living hell. He worried about her and he seemed to really love that baby inside her. She, however, hated it almost as much as she hated Mac. She also hated herself for always complaining about that damned child, but never doing anything to try and get rid of it. No, she had made one serious attempt to kill it, and that was at the CDC when she had begged Dr. Jenner to help her abort it. She felt even angrier when she thought about the CDC because that was the place where she had wanted to die. She thought about Jenner and Jacqui and envied them terribly as she had wished she had perished with them too. Again, Daryl.

Her husbands popped into her mind as well, like they always did, every minute of every day, and every time it happened, she pushed them away and pretended like they didn't exist. She had to remind herself that she was never going to see them again and that this new life - however long that would last - would have to be lived without the two loves of her life. That alone made this living hell for her, Mac and the baby were only bonuses. Armageddon had lived thirteen years without her husbands and had been miserable most of that time, but the second Con and Murph entered her life, she knew she would never be miserable again. Not while she was with them.

An unwilling sob escaped her throat and tears formed in her eyes as that thought echoed inside her head. A mental picture of them entered her mind and she fought the tears with all her might as she felt a tidal wave of sorrow wash over her. She missed them so, so, so fucking much. They were-

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a growl. She looked behind her shoulder and saw a male walker slowly approaching her. It limped and practically crawled towards her as the lower half of its leg had been chewed off and she watched as its disfigured body neared her. Its eyes were the color of milk and its skin was a green-grayish tone, with red spots all over due to some other victim or even himself. She met it halfway with her Swiss Army knife in her hand and as she drove it into its skull, permanently killing it, she finally found a way to let out her anger. She grunted as she pulled the knife of the incapacitated walker before driving it into its skull again and again until there was practically nothing left of its skull.

When she had had enough of that, she got up and decided to hunt down more walkers, if there were any more. Adrenaline raced in her veins and the only thought that existed in her mind was the want - the need - to kill again. There was a subtle endearing feeling about taking down a walker that both made her feel invincible and like a superhero. She was saving the world by taking down one walker at a time, and maybe, hopefully, in the distant future, it could be of her help that all walkers cease to exist and things can go back to normal.

She had to wander around for fifteen minutes, though, until she found another walker. They were two, with not much distance between them, and they had seen her coming. They attacked at the same time, and it was a little challenging where one point she really thought they were going to get her, but she managed to push and trip one of them so that she had enough space to drive her knife into the other's' eye, pulling the knife out before crawling on top of the other and incapacitating it too. She got more blood on her, but she could not care less. Her heart was racing and for the first time in a long time she felt alive. She was not sitting on the sidelines and wishing to be part of the action, she didn't need to beg and be rejected to do something she was good and used to do, she was doing it and she was fine. She was on an adrenaline high and even smiled to herself as she drove her knife into the second walker's skull.

She had taken down probably a half a dozen walkers in that forest in the span of three hours when she finally decided that she had enough and started making her way back towards the house. She knew the way as she had gone to all these places when she was out looking for Sophia and she had done it enough times to know the way back to the house by heart.

When she reached the house, however, she was completely out of breath and had to steady herself on a tree as she tried to calm her racing heart and catch her breath. She could see the group and she thought she could see Rick and the rest had returned, though she didn't get her hopes up as they might as well could be walkers wandering around town after a failed attempt to get Hershel back. As she stood there, on the edge of the forest, she could feel how the pregnancy was affecting her. If she would have done this two months ago, she knew she wouldn't be so exhausted and she knew she could have done this all day and barely even break a sweat. But, instead she was burdened with this unwanted child of hers and she knew this was only the beginning.

"Hey, you okay?" Daryl asked as soon as she came into camp and ran over to her, looking pretty apprehensive of her.

"Fuck off" She grunted and refused to look at him. She was back to being angry with him, not only for what happened earlier today, but because he had done so many things to prevent her from doing the things she wanted to do. Sure, he helped her out a lot too, but she was not thinking about that right now.

"Armageddon, are you all right?" Dale asked when he saw her. She must have looked terrible to them; covered in sweat, dirt and dried up walker blood, her hair and clothes a mess and glaring at everyone like she was ready to punch someone in the face. She had thought she had managed to cool down in the woods, but as soon as she came to the camp she realized that she hated almost everyone there so there was no cooling down. She had only been taking a break from everyone. "Where have you been?"

"None of your business."

"Rick's back" Daryl told her and tried to meet her eyes.

"Okay."

"They brought someone."

She finally stopped and met his eyes, furrowing her brows at him. "Someone from another group."

"So what? We got a new team member?" She asked and arched her brows at him. Right now she didn't care about anything or anyone in this world.

"No, they'll be gettin' rid of him soon."

"Then why are you telling me this?" She asked impatiently.

Daryl stopped and seemed tongue-tied at her question, before finally shrugging. "Thought you might wanna know."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes before marching away from him. She didn't know where she was going or what she was going to do, she just knew that she wanted to get away from him and the rest of the group, yet stay on the farm.

"Armageddon! I need your help!" Lori called out as she ran over to the younger woman, sitting beneath her favorite oak tree and reading her latest novel. Armageddon looked up and raised a brow as she watched the older woman approach her.

"Whaddya want?" She asked and did not seem to be in the mood to be socializing and she hoped that Lori would notice that and leave her alone.

"It's Beth" She said and huffed when she ultimately stopped in front of her. "I think she's in trouble."

"And how is that my business?" Armageddon asked and arched her brows at her.

"You need to talk to her."

"Why?"

"Because you're the only one with a psychology degree and knows-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop right there. I took three courses in college, that does not make me a psychologist" She told her and stopped before she could make any more wrong assumptions. "And even if I was, I'm not the one that girl needs to talk to. She needs her father or her sister, not some stranger that she doesn't even like."

"You don't know that" Lori said and shook her head.

"No, but it's a pretty good guess since I'm just some stranger that she's never talked to that helped kill, what she thought was, the rest of her family" Armageddon told her in a matter of fact tone.

"Please, Armageddon" Lori begged sincerely. "I think she's contemplating suicide and-"

"And, again, that's not my business nor yours."

"Yes, it is!" Lori snapped. "How can you say such a thing? Everyone deserves a chance in this world-"

"And everyone deserves to make their own decisions in how they live their lives."

"What's wrong with you?" She exclaimed and stared at her in shock before shaking her head. "I don't want to argue, just _please_ , go talk to her. You don't have to convince her not to do it, but you must have learned something in college that can help out in situations like these."

Armageddon disrupted their eye contact and looked back down to the paperback in her hand, not knowing what to say so she decided not to say anything. She was steadfast on letting that girl make her own decisions, whether it was to kill herself or keep on going with this life, so she decided she would not stick her nose in businesses that wasn't hers.

But, Lori's words stuck with her and ultimately, she stood up as she could no longer focus on the book. She could not focus on anything except what Lori begged her to do and she ended up making her way to the house, thinking of what she could say to that teenage girl that would make her feel better.

When she came to the house, all she could hear were Maggie and Beth screaming at each other. She found Andrea and Lori in the kitchen and she saw how Lori's face brightened up when she saw her. "You came."

"Yep" Armageddon said and looked up to the ceiling, guessing Beth's room might have been right above them. "Seems to me like I didn't need to, though."

"Why not?" Andrea asked her.

Armageddon met her eyes. "Because either they work things out and Beth realizes that she has her sister and father to live for, or she'll stick with her choice and I don't think anyone can change that."

"How can you be so certain?" Lori asked her and was appalled by her words.

"Because I was at that place."

"I was too and-" Andrea started, but Armageddon cut her off.

"And I still am at that place" She continued in a matter of fact tone. "And no matter how much I think about hope or try to believe that good things will come, no matter if things are great or awful, I still feel the same and I probably always will."

"Then why haven't you done anything?"

Armageddon pursed her lips as she realized that question was right and she felt like an ass as she realized that she could have shot herself in those woods earlier, or she could just take the gun out from where it was tucked in her pants and end her life right there and then, but something stopped her. That something was Daryl. She could not, no matter how terribly she felt or how much she hated herself, this life or Mac - whom had made this life ten times harder than it should have been - she could not fathom killing herself as she knew it would completely destroy Daryl. She knew he cared about her deeply, and he cared about the baby inside of her even more. He had lost his oldest brother and was going through enough, Armageddon did not want him to go through any more because she knew he did not deserve it. She hated to admit it, but at that moment, she realized she cared about him too. A lot.

Andrea disrupted the thick silence that had swept over the kitchen as Armageddon thought things through. "Where's Hershel?" She asked and directed her question more to Lori than to Armageddon.

"He don't wanna find out yet" Lori answered and munched on a carrot. "It's a family affair, let them work it out."

Both Armageddon and Andrea raised their brows at that, but with different thoughts in mind. "That's working it out?" Andrea asked dubiously.

"When Beth stop fightin'. That's when it's time to worry" Lori told her in a matter of fact tone.

Maggie yelled out at the top of her lungs and Andrea decided to speak her mind about things. "This could've been handled better."

"How so?" Lori asked her curiously.

"Shouldn't have taken the knife away."

Armageddon looked at Andrea with wide eyes and barely believed her own ears. "Really?" Lori asked with the same appalled tone as she had used on Armageddon earlier.

"You were wrong" Andrea said coldly. "Like Dale taking my gun, that wasn't your decision."

"She's right" Armageddon chimed in. "You've got to stop being so controlling and let other people make their own decisions whether they want to live or not, otherwise you're just making their lives even more hell than it needs to be."

"I can't believe you two!" Lori exclaimed. "Suicide is not an option."

"Of course, it is" Andrea said casually. "She doesn't need to be yelled at or treated like a child."

"She needs a loaded gun, right?" Lori sighed as she started washing some nearby dirty dishes. "You understand why I don't send you in there, right?" She asked Andrea before looking to Armageddon. "There was a reason you came and I know it wasn't to disagree about this. You changed your mind, you were ready to talk to her... Are you still?"

"If Maggie or Hershel thinks it's okay, then sure, I'll do it" Armageddon said and shrugged casually. "But, like I said before, I don't know how much help I can be."

"Not with that attitude."

"I wasn't plannin' on coming in with that attitude" Armageddon told her. "My views on this world doesn't change the fact that I'm not a shrink. I'm not a person people can turn to with their problems in hopes I can help them solve everything."

"Yes, you are" Lori told her and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking deeply into her green eyes. "You were so for the kids; Carl, Sophia, the Morales' children. You can be so also for her."

"Maybe" Armageddon said and pursed her lips. "Maybe."

She left the room, knowing she was doing them no good just standing there staring into the abyss and had decided to take another look at Hershel's book collection when she heard Lori and Andrea fighting in the kitchen about who does what and then it escalated to how Lori is entitled to everything and Armageddon stopped listening after that. Andrea left soon after and she knew the air in the kitchen was tense, so she did not dare to enter or make it known that she had heard what was going on.

Maggie came downstairs a couple of minutes later, much to Armageddon's surprise. "How's she doing?" Armageddon asked her.

"Not that good" Maggie answered somberly. "Andrea took over and is giving me a break."

"Andrea?" Armageddon repeated and furrowed her brows.

"Yeah, why? Is that a problem?" Maggie asked and her face paled. Armageddon was about to answer, when Maggie turned on her heel and ran right back upstairs, with Armageddon not that far behind because she knew something bad was in store. "Beth!"

Her bedroom was empty and they could hear crying from the bathroom before something in there shattered. "Beth?" Maggie cried out and pounded on the bathroom door before trying to open it. "Beth!"

"Maggie?" Lori asked as she walked in.

"She's in there, I heard glass."

"Beth? You all right?" Lori called out and knocked on the door.

"Don't do this, Beth! Open the door!" Maggie cried out before she started rummaging through her drawers. "I left her with Andrea."

"Where's the key?" Lori asked as she watched her do this.

"I don't know."

"Lori, step beside" Armageddon said and approached the door.

"Why?"

"Move!"

Lori did what she was told and Armageddon took a step back before kicking on the door handle as hard as she could. She had to do it once more before the door finally opened and in stood Beth in front of a broken mirror, crying as she held her bloody wrist. "I'm sorry" She said with tears running down her cheeks and blood drops running down her arm.

Maggie took her into her embrace and kissed her head before leading her out of the bathroom. "It's okay" She said and sniffed, tears cascading down her face as well as she saw her sister in such bad conditions.

After Hershel had stitched her up, both he and Maggie asked Armageddon to stay with her and talk to her, try to make her feel any better if she could. Armageddon was done trying to explain that in her previous life she was a political party planner and not a shrink so she was not equipped to deal with such things, so she told them not to get their hopes up and that she would do her best.

"My Dad says you're a psychologist" Beth said quietly and refused to meet her eyes as they sat alone in the den, a place Armageddon had requested because her bedroom was her personal place, but the living room, though cozy, was too open and prone to unwanted visitors. That made the den perfect as it was closed off, yet resembled the living room in such ways that it had couches and recliners and a comfortable atmosphere.

"I'm not quite a psychologist" Armageddon explained with her utmost professional voice. "But, I studied it for a while in college."

"Do psychologists really help?" Beth asked dubiously and arched her brows at the older girl.

"Well, that's completely up to you" Armageddon answered and crossed her legs. "Psychologists help people who want to be helped. They listen to you as you talk about whatever you want and slowly try to help ration out your fears and problems."

"Like God?"

"Yeah" Armageddon chuckled. "Kinda like God."

"Do you believe in God?" She asked her and stared at her with her big blue, curious eyes.

"I am agnostic, so I can't really give you a 'yes' or 'no' answer to that" Armageddon answered and saw how Beth looked away and did not seem to like her answer. "But, my husbands did. They were avid believers, true Catholics."

"Husbands? As in more than one?" Beth asked and her eyes widened in curiosity.

"Yes, I was married to two wonderful men."

"How's that possible?"

Armageddon had come in there to listen to Beth, not to be the one answering questions and talking about her personal life, but since she wasn't a professional shrink and this wasn't a professional appointment, she let herself have it and answered as much as she felt comfortable with. "Anything's possible. In my case, the three of us had always been best friends and as the years went by, we became more than friends and they knew I loved them both equally as much so they accepted that they had to share me."

"Is that even legal?"

"Don't know" She answered casually and shook her head. "We did not care."

"And is that their baby you're pregnant with?"

That question threw Armageddon off the line and she decided that was enough. "We did not come here to talk about me" She told her and her voice became professionally cold. "Why did you want to end your life?"

Beth pursed her lips and her cheeks reddened a bit as she looked away in shame. "Because I didn't want to live in this world anymore."

"Why not?"

"You know why not" She answered shortly.

"No, I don't" Armageddon told her. "We all have different views and opinions on this new world we live in."

"Because I don't want to lose any more people" She answered quietly. "I'm afraid of those things and I'm afraid what they'll do to me and others."

"That's understandable" Armageddon said sympathetically. "I was too, when this all started."

"What changed your mind?"

"When I realized how simple walkers really are" She answered her. "You can look at them naturally and be afraid because they are dead and they feast upon the living, or you can look at them this way; they're basically brain-dead who only want to do one thing, so they're so stupid that it becomes the easiest thing to kill them for good. Sure, they may be strong, but they have no sense of anything so you can practically hide behind a tree and they'll think you've disappeared. It takes strength and skill to kill them, but it's so easy and you're so quick to get the hang of it that it'll be like you've been doing it all your life."

"Really?"

"Yes, really" Armageddon assured her and saw how her words filled her with hope. "But, just because they're stupid does not mean you should ever let your guard down. You've always gotta be careful because those bastards are masters at sneaking up on you. But, like I said before, you'll learn and get used to it."

Beth's face dropped and the hope that glimmered in her eyes dwindled as she processed those words. Armageddon noticed that and continued. "This world is hard, it's disgusting and it's cruel, but we can't let that bring us down. Us humans have been around for centuries and survived the darndest things; plagues, world wars, ravenous beasts. Some brainless imbeciles cannot be what takes us down. We'll survive, we'll adapt and we'll get through this."

"You really believe that?" Beth asked her despairingly.

"I gotta" Armageddon told her and realized that even though she had not managed to convince Beth or win her over, she had somehow managed to convince herself that life was worth living and that she maybe really could get through this. "It's not built in the human instincts to give up."


	27. A Time to Kill

A Time to Kill

Questions rained on Rick as soon as he and Shane came back, with the young man also. All three of them were in pretty bad shape, considering the blood on their clothes and Shane's busted lip. They took him to the barn and left him there before returning to the camp. "Why'd you bring him back?" Armageddon asked.

"'Cause he knew Maggie" Shane answered shortly.

"So?"

"So?" Shane repeated and met her eyes. "He knows Maggie and her Dad too, so he knows where this farm is. He'd just lead them right back to us."

"Fair point" She commented and looked from him to Rick. "So, what're you gonna do?"

"We'll know soon enough" Rick answered and directed the answer to the whole group.

Soon, Daryl returned and the first thing Armageddon noticed were his bloody knuckles. "Boy there's got a gang" He told them, but directed his sentence more to Rick than anyone else. "Thirty men. Got heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead and the women are gonna wish they were."

"What did you do?" Carol asked him naively.

"Had a little chat" Daryl answered shortly.

"What... the fuck?" Armageddon mumbled and looked from him to Rick with arched brows. "The fuck are you thinking? The guy's practically handicapped because of his leg, was abandoned by his group and you send Daryl to do your dirty work as if there needs to be some? Are you fucking serious? That boy could have easily answered our questions rationally, but no! Instead of being better than his people and respecting his _basic human fucking rights_ you maltreat him, punish him as if he's done something wrong."

"Don't you start-" Shane started to exclaim, but she shut him up.

"Weren't you a cop?" She retorted and arched her brows before meeting Rick's. "Weren't you both officers of the law?"

"The world's different now" Rick answered soberly.

"We ain't" She told him and shook her head.

"Yeah, we are."

"No, just because the dead walk now amongst us does not mean that we sink as low as them. Everyone is still born with human rights and our views on right and wrong does not change no matter what. It's not acceptable to just torture and beat on someone just because you feel threatened, how do you think he feels?"

"Are you sure you weren't a lawyer?" Dale asked after both Rick and Shane left her, not giving her a response to what she had said. She met his eyes and cocked a brow at him, not in the mood for anything at that moment. "Before all of this started. I mean, I know you already told me what you did, but you could have been a darn good lawyer."

"No" She said in disagreement and shook her head, furrowing her brows at him and what he had just said. "I'm just a decent human being that knows right from wrong, other than some people."

"I completely agree with everything you said" He told her candidly. "What they're doing, it's wrong and-"

"Can we talk about this later, Dale?" Armageddon asked and stopped him in mid-sentence. "I'm sorry, but I'm just not in the mood for conversing right now."

"Yeah, of course."

Armageddon went straight to Daryl and Mac's campsite and fought the urge to slap Daryl in the face when she met him. She stopped in front of him, met his eyes and for a good while just stared at him as she could not find the right words. "What?" He eventually asked her and broke the tense silence that had formed between them.

"Really?" She said and arched her brows.

"What?"

"What the fuck were you thinking?" She snapped. He moved away from her and scratched his chin, avoiding her eyes and probably sensed that she could turn violent soon. "Did Rick and Shane request this of you or did you volunteer?"

"They asked me."

"You ain't his mom" Mac chimed in and pushed her back. "So, why don't you leave us the fuck alone?"

"Why don't you mind your own fucking business?" She spat before meeting Daryl's eyes again. "What did you think you were accomplishing by beating on that boy?"

"Was thinking about keepin' you safe" He answered her.

"'Cause a limping nineteen year old is so dangerous?"

"You know what the fuck he told me in there?" He snapped and marched up to her, not stopping until they were almost body-to-body. "His group found some guy with his daughters and made him watch as they raped them! Didn't kill them afterwards, just left them there."

Armageddon stared at him shocked and appalled before regaining her straight face. "You don't know if he's like that too" She said quietly and shook her head.

"No, but he will be once we set him free and he finds us" He assured her.

"Yes, no wonder, judging from how you all treat him."

"You want that to happen?" He asked her and raised his brows, his clear blue eyes shining with shock and anger.

"No."

"You want him to bring back his group because we _deserve_ it? Rape you and the rest of the women to justify what we've been doin'?"

"Haven't you ever considered the possibility that maybe he wants to redeem himself and join our group?" She said and did not seem as fazed by his words as he was. She could see it in his eyes that he envisioned it and it terrified him.

He scoffed and shook his head before taking a step back. "You haven't been listenin' to a word I said, have ya?" He asked and laughed at her. "Listen to yourself! Who would want that?"

"Then why don't you just kill him?" She asked coldly and crossed her arms over her chest. "Since you're so right, there's no other choice than to do so."

Armageddon spent the rest of the day around the horses and the cows. She helped Hershel herd a couple of cows that had escaped through a broken fence and she found it very soothing to be around those clueless animals and pretending like the worst thing in the world was them escaping. She patted them on the head and enjoyed the soft, short-coated fur they had, even though her fingers quickly got dirty as she did. She wanted to believe that she was in some movie like _The Horse Whisperer_ as she spent time with the horses and wished that life was that easy. She did this to clear her head and get away from the rest of the group as each and every one of them was bringing her toxic energy that she couldn't handle. She knew she was overreacting and that this could be the hormonal changes talking, but after all that had happened the last month, she had no strength left to fight it, so she decided to run away from it.

She had wanted to spend the whole day in solitude with the animals, but Dale dragged her back when the hearing for Randall's case started. It was set in Hershel's living room and everyone was there, even Daryl. That surprised her, but what didn't surprise her was that Mac wasn't, and honestly, that was a relief. Their eyes met for a brief moment before she looked away and put her back up against the nearest wall. She knew how she and Dale felt about this, but since they were a minority and in the majority were people like Shane, who did not listen to anyone but themselves, she knew this was a pointless battle.

Glenn shattered the tense silence that had formed in the room. "So, how do we do this? Just take a vote?" He asked and looked around, meeting some people's eyes.

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

"The majority rules" Lori answered.

"Let's just see how everyone stands, then we can talk through the options" Rick said and seemed pretty distressed about this. Armageddon could see it on his face that he didn't really want to go through with this.

"Yeah, the only way I see it is the only way we move is forward" Shane spoke up and was determined to get things his way.

"Killing him, right?" Dale retorted and glared at him. "Then why even bother take a vote if it's clear how people stand in this?"

"If someone believes we should spare him, I wanna know" Rick told him and his eyes shone with despair.

"I can tell you, it's a small group. Maybe just me, Armageddon and Glenn" Dale said before meeting Glenn's hesitant eyes.

"Look, I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time, but this-" He started, but Dale didn't want to hear him out.

"They've got you scared!"

"He's not one of us" Glenn retorted and threw his hands up in the air. "And we've... We've lost too many people already."

Dale looked from him and to Armageddon with pursed lips. "What about you? Have you changed your mind as well?" He asked her pessimistically.

"No one cares what I think" She answered and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes, we all do!"

"Then, I think we should let him live."

"So, that's two against the rest of us. Majority still rules" Shane said.

She met his eyes for a brief second before shrugging. "That's what I thought."

"Give him a chance to prove himself!" Dale cried out desperately. He seemed to be the only one who truly stood up for the poor guy. Armageddon would have shown as much determination, but every time she did, she was shut down so she knew better of it. She was only the pregnant woman with a big mouth in their eyes, nothing else.

"Put him to work" Glenn suggested.

"We're not letting him walk around" Rick answered and shut that suggestion down.

"We could put an escort on him" Maggie said.

"Who'll volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked and scoffed.

"I will!" Dale told him.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy" Rick said and put his hand up to shut everyone up.

"He's right, I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up" Lori said quietly.

"Then why are we having this discussion?" Armageddon asked coldly and met her eyes before looking at Rick. "Why do you say we'll talk through the options if the only option you'll settle for is death? Just kill him already and get this over with."

"Look, say we let him join us, right?" Shane said and met her eyes before looking around the crowd. "Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off and brings his thirty men."

"So, the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he may never even attempt?" Dale cried out and threw his hands up in the air. "If we do this, we're saying there is no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

"Oh my god" Shane sighed and rubbed his shaved head.

"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel asked somberly and met Rick's eyes.

"You barely came back this time" Lori commented.

"Then someone else can do it" Armageddon suggested.

"You ain't" Daryl retorted immediately.

"Sorry, Dad" She said sarcastically and glared at him. "But, I don't need your fuckin' permission."

"Annie, please, don't swear in this house" Hershel said and when Armageddon turned to meet his eyes, she realized he was talking to her.

"Did you just call me Annie?" She asked and furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Yeah, I figured that was your name."

"My _name_ is Armageddon, don't believe me then check the National Registry."

"That can't be the name you were born with-" He commented and shook his head.

"We're not here to discuss names" Rick chimed in and stopped the two.

"I can drive him further out, get rid of him someplace where he could have a chance to escape that's far from here" She told Rick and met his eyes.

"Alone?" He asked dubiously and raised a brow.

"Well, you can't exactly risk losing more people."

"There are walkers, you could break down-" Lori listed up.

"You could get ambushed" Daryl said and met her eyes. She could see how he was internally begging her not to do this, as if it had been already decided.

"We should not put our own people at risk" Glenn chimed in.

"You're right" Rick nodded before meeting Armageddon's eyes. "Thank you for volunteering, though, it's very noble of you."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes at him, not taking any of his words seriously. "If you go through with it, how would you do it?" Patricia asked hesitantly. "Will he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right? Snap his neck?" Shane suggested and looked at Rick.

"What, 'cause we're back in the fifteenth century?" Armageddon retorted and scoffed again. "Why don't you just chop his head off and call it treason?"

"I thought about it" Rick said and shut Armageddon up before she could say any more. "Shooting may be more humane."

"What if this was one of us?" Armageddon asked and met his eyes before looking over the group. "What if something were to happen to one of us and another group would take that person in, tie them up, _torture_ them and then plot on killing them. How would you all feel about that? Or, how do you think _you_ would feel if you were in Randall's position? I know with everything that's going on we're supposed to think of ourselves first, but we have formed a society by forming this group, hell, we've even formed a democracy by choosing a leader and everything! We've got to be looking at this from all sides or else we're-"

"Just like the dead, we get it" Shane chimed in.

"Let her talk!" Daryl snapped, much to everyone's surprise, including Armageddon who could not believe her own ears. She met his eyes before looking to Hershel and then to Rick.

"Since you are the unanimously voted leader you've gotta think about things beyond just you and your family."

"I am!" Rick assured her.

"What if this was Carl?"

"Well, it ain't" Lori said and shook her head.

"He is somebody's son."

"We can't let him walk out of here freely" Rick told her and sighed.

"So, it's just decided? You're talking about this as if you've decided to kill him" Dale said.

"We've been talking all day. Goin' 'round in circles, you just wanna go 'round in circles again?" Daryl said and met Dale's eyes, raising his brows at the older man.

"This is a young man's life! And it is worth more than a five minute conversation. Is this what we've come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with them? You saved him! And now look at us; he's been tortured, he's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people we're so afraid of?"

"We all know what needs to be done" Shane said casually, as if he hadn't been listening to a word the old man said. Everyone else had, however, judging from the looks of remorse and sorrow on their faces as they processed his words and realized just how right he was.

"No, Dale and Armageddon are right. We can't leave any stone un-turned" Rick told him and shut him up. "We have other possibilities."

"So, what's the other solution?" Andrea asked impatiently and threw her hands up in the air.

"Let Rick finish!" Lori snapped and shut her up.

Andrea did not listen to her. "We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could-"

"So, let's work on it!" Dale exclaimed loudly.

"Stop it! Just, stop it. I'm sick of everyone arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide, either of you, both of you. Just leave me out of it" Carol said and fought the cackle in her throat.

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference" Dale said and didn't seem the least bit sympathetic to the grieving woman.

"Don't talk to her like that" Armageddon said. "We're all free to do whatever we want without being guilt-tripped about it."

"All right, that's enough!" Rick exclaimed. "Anybody who wants the floor before we make our final decision, here's your chance."

Armageddon kept her mouth shut because she had said everything she wanted to. Everyone else stayed silent and hesitantly looked at each other, as if they were waiting for someone to speak up, but no one did. Until Dale realized something. "You once said 'we don't kill the living'" He pointed out.

"That was before the living tried to kill us" Rick told him in a matter of fact tone.

"That doesn't mean that you have to do it too" Armageddon commented and met his eyes before uncrossing her arms and straightened herself up. "When you were a cop and someone resisted arrest by, I don't know, punching you in the face, that didn't mean that you had to punch him right back? I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if that would be one of the things you'd be taught _not_ to do in the police academy."

"This isn't the old world, Armageddon, get it through your head!" Shane said and looked at her. "We're not cops anymore just like you aren't... whatever it was that you were before. We're just people trying to survive."

"Exactly!" She agreed. "So is Randall. We cannot just sentence him to death through guilt by association."

"We can't take the chance either."

"Please," Dale said and fought the tears that formed in his eyes. "Let's just do what's right. I don't want to live in a 'survival of the fittest' kind of world." When no one said anything, he spoke again. "Isn't there anyone else that's gonna stand with me?"

No one spoke for a long minute before Andrea finally nodded. "He's right" She said before looking over the group. "We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Rick asked and looked over the group. Armageddon looked over to Daryl, who avoided her eyes like the burning fire and she knew Dale had managed to convince some people, but not him. He was steadfast on killing the boy 'in order to protect her'. When no one else answered, Rick looked at him with apologetic eyes, making Dale scoff and a lone tear ran down his cheek before he wiped it away.

"Ya'll gonna watch, too?" He asked and shook his head before leaving, too angry and too sad to stay there any longer. He stopped on the way in front of Daryl and put his hand on his shoulder, meeting his eyes as he fought the tears. "This group is broken" He said before leaving.

People slowly filed away until there were few people left. Armageddon stayed by the RV, staying close to Dale and offering him as much moral support as he accepted and when he had enough, she perched herself on the top with his hat on her head and the novel in her lap and tried to focus on what she read, but she couldn't register one word because her mind was so fixated on the conversation they had all had inside the house.

Two hours later, she finally couldn't take it anymore and climbed off the RV, looking for Daryl. "Hey" She said when she found him by his new campsite. "I gotta question for you."

He looked up from the squirrel he was carving up and met her eyes. "What'd Dale mean when he came up to you and said 'this group is broken'?" She asked him and thrust her hands into her trouser pockets.

Daryl shrugged and focused back on the squirrel. That was his only answer. "Daryl?" She asked impatiently.

"He came on over here earlier and asked me to vouch for the kid, thinkin' that I got some sort of power over Rick to convince him differently and I told him I ain't" Daryl finally answered.

"So?"

"So, I told him this group's broken and that's why he said it."

"Why do you think the group's broken?"

"Enough questions, slut" Mac chimed in. "That mouth was made for one thing and it ain't for talking."

"Fuck you, Mac. Go suck your own dick" She retorted and didn't even seem fazed by his words. Daryl saw the same fearlessness shining in her eyes that shone before she realized she was pregnant with his baby, after that she always seemed so afraid of him, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Don't talk back to me-"

"Hey!" Daryl snapped and stood up, getting between them before either of them could have done something bad. He met Armageddon's eyes before grabbing her hand and dragging her away. Unlike other times when he did this, he actually grabbed her hand and not her arm. His hands were large and warm, much to the opposite of Armageddon, who had small hands that were almost always cold.

When they were far enough away from Mac or anyone else, Daryl stopped and looked her deeply in the eyes. "This group _is_ broken" He told her candidly. "Shane's goin' off the deep end, Rick's got too much to juggle with his wife and kid and the group too, the farmer's delusional and there ain't no more that could be helpful."

"So, what? You wanna leave?" She asked and arched her brows at him.

"Yeah" He nodded. "But, this is the best place for you."

She scoffed and shook her head. "You don't know shit about what's good for me."

"Not now, but I know in a couple of months when you'll be all big and not able to move around like you can now, when you have to eat way more and relax all the time, for the baby's sake, so a place that has stability like this farm has _is_ the perfect place for you" He argued and she had to admit he brought some very good points, though her pride begged to differ.

"So, you're just gonna leave me here with them?" She asked. "After you were the one who said you'd be ready to take in the baby when it's born? Was that all bullshit?"

"No!"

"Then what the fuck are you saying?"

"Maybe we'll stay here when the rest of the group leaves" He answered quietly and seemed hesitant. "Mac's been talking about goin' back to the city to look for Merle and he'll understand when I won't come with."

"No, he won't" She disagreed and shook her head. "He of all people would never understand that."

"He's gonna have to."

"What if Hershel doesn't want to take us in?" She asked him. "We're two more mouths to feed and the baby'll make three."

"We know how to take care of ourselves and we can contribute just fine" He told her and seemed to have everything figured out. "They don't even have to feed me, just you and the baby."

"And what if the rest of the group doesn't leave?"

"We'll make due."

"Then what was all that about the group being broken and all that shit?" She asked and cocked her head a little to the side.

"I don't know, I was just sayin' that to get the old man off my back."

When the time finally came to shoot the boy, Armageddon decided to be inside the house. She sat with Hershel, Maggie, Glenn and a couple of others in tense silence as they waited for Rick, Shane and Daryl to return to tell them it was over and the deed was done. She could not focus on anything except the thought of that poor, innocent guy inside the barn, probably on his knees and with a cold barrel of a pistol pressed against his forehead. She didn't understand why Daryl had agreed to come with the two former police men to watch the guy die. She had no idea that he had it in him to do something like that, but she had seen a whole other side to him this morning when he came with bloody knuckles after having a little 'chat' with Randall inside the barn. That was a much different person than she knew and she started to wonder if that might be his real self.

An hour later she found him standing nearby the house with a cigarette between his lips. "How'd it go?" She asked quietly, her voice hesitant.

He looked over his shoulder and met her eyes. "He ain't dead" He answered.

"What?" She asked and felt a great deal of relief wash over her as she heard those words.

"Rick changed his mind on the last second."

"That's great!"

Daryl grunted and mumbled something inaudible before finishing the cigarette and throwing it on the ground before stomping on it. He was about to say something when a scream sounded off, snapping them both out of their thoughts and their heads whirled in the direction of the scream before they sprinted towards the person. Cries of anguish and pain only made things worse as Armageddon and Daryl tried to run as fast as they could towards the screaming man.

It was Dale. He was laying on the ground with a walker on top of him, fighting to get it off. At first, Armageddon didn't see anything else, then she saw a large, gaping hole that was where his stomach was supposed to be and everything around him was painted red with his blood. Her first instinct was to scream, the next was to try and help remove the walker. Daryl was ahead of her, though, and pushed the walker off him before thrusting his hunting knife deep into the walker's skull. Armageddon fell to her knees besides Dale and couldn't help the tears that streamed down her face as she grabbed his hand and met his fearful eyes. He stared up at her wide-eyed and whimpered, like a dying animal that doesn't know what to do with its last few seconds on Earth. "It's okay" She whispered mindlessly and patted his head lovingly. "It's okay."

Daryl knelt down next to her and seemed just as distressed as she. "Hang in there, bud" He said breathlessly.

"It's okay" Armageddon kept on whispering and didn't even realize what she was doing. Dale severed their eye contact to look at Daryl before meeting her eyes once more. She could see just a glimmer of calmness in his eyes that she knew was only thanks to her.

Soon the rest of the group joined in and more people started screaming and crying, not out of physical pain but of emotional pain when they saw Dale in the bad shape that he was in. Rick grabbed his face gently and spoke softly to him, trying to assure him that everything was fine. "Stay with me. Hold on" He said desperately. "Someone get Hershel!"

Andrea knelt beside Armageddon and met his eyes. "Hang on, Dale" She said and fought the sobs in her throat.

"It's okay" Armageddon said softly and kept on stroking his head. Daryl was now behind her with his arms wrapped around her and practically doing the same for her as she was doing for the dying man. Her whole world was collapsing around her as she watched Dale die because she realized he had been the nicest man in the whole group and a good friend of her, but all she could remember of their conversations was that she was a total bitch to him who responded with hostility and anger, while he was always so sympathetic and caring to her. "Don't die" She sobbed and squeezed her eyes shut as she started to cry more vigorously. She didn't want to lose him, she could think of so many people in that group that were expendable in her eyes, but not Dale. Dale was a vital part of that group that not only she, but _everyone_ needed.

"Hershel!" Rick screamed out at the top of his lungs. " _We need Hershel!_ "

Hershel appeared sooner than Armageddon expected and was quick to come to Dale's aid. Daryl helped Armageddon up to her feet as Hershel requested some space for the old man and she wrapped herself around him, clinging tightly to Daryl and cried violently as she watched Hershel examine Dale. He quickly stood back up and shook his head at Rick. "No. No!" Rick exclaimed and now tears were running down his face as well. "No."

"He's suffering" Andrea cried before looking behind her shoulder to Rick and Shane. "Do something!"

Rick pulled out his gun and sobbed as he pointed it directly at Dale's head. Armageddon closed her eyes and screamed into Daryl's chest as she wished that this wasn't happening. She wished with all her heart that she could turn back time and somehow prevent this all from happening because she didn't want to lose Dale. She couldn't lose him, none of the group members could.

When Rick could not go through with it, Daryl let her go and took the gun out of his hand. Armageddon watched and felt her heart crush into a million little pieces. "Sorry, brother" Daryl mumbled right before he pulled the trigger and put Dale out of his misery.


	28. Deep Impact

Deep Impact

 _She was outside in an unfamiliar territory. She was not at the farm and if she didn't know any better, she would have thought she was in Boston judging by the buildings and structures around her, though she dismissed that thought immediately because she knew the last time she remembered she was in Atlanta. She had no idea where she was or why and wondered what had happened that left her all alone. She looked around, searching for a familiar face, but all she could see was emptiness._

 _A growl sounded off, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked in the direction of where she heard the growl but saw nothing. She quickly turned around, looking in every direction when she finally stopped in her steps as she saw the walker._

 _Her heart sunk into her chest as she stared into the dead eyes she had once known and loved. They were not blue anymore or shining with happiness or love; they were now milky-white and showed nothing but hunger. The once dirty blonde hair that she loved to ruffle was now practically brown because of dirt and dried blood. His skin was pale and flecked with dried blood and grit and his clothes were torn. He was wearing the T-shirt she got him, the one with Arnold Schwarzenegger's picture in the middle and his famous quote from_ The Terminator _'_ I'll be back _'._

 _It was Con. Connor MacManus, her best friend, her lover, her husband. The person that owned half of her heart. The man who promised to love and cherish her till death do them part. He stood ten feet away from her with blood running down his chin and what she was sure were guts in his open mouth. Their eyes met and as she looked into them she forgot everything about what she had learned on the road all those months after the apocalypse hit. She forgot that they weren't human anymore and that no matter what she would say or do, there was nothing changing that._

 _"Connor?" She whimpered and fought the sob that formed in her throat. His answer was a growl and he limped towards her. He did not seem to register who she was or even his name. The only thing he saw in front of him was food and not his loving wife. "Con? It's me" She cried and felt her heart break with every step he took towards her. His face stayed in the same twisted grimace as always and the look in his eyes never changed. He did not recognize her and it tore her apart. "Baby, please, it's me" She cried out and her knees buckled so hard that she fell to the ground. He was now two feet away from her and she could not smell his usual scent, instead she only smelt rotten flesh and blood. The typical walker smell. A smell she refused he carried. She refused to believe that he was one of them, that he was irreversibly dead and gone. "Con-"_

 _He did not give her any answer and as soon as he could, he dug his teeth into her flesh._

Armageddon woke up screaming at the top of her lungs and squirmed on the bed until she realized where she was, then she stopped dead cold and felt goosebumps form on her entire body. Hershel ran into her bedroom with a terrified look on his face and carried a shotgun, ready for anything, but sighed heavily when he saw that she was all alone in the spare bedroom they had given her. "I'm sorry" She said softly and tried her best to fight the tears that formed in her eyes. "Everything's okay, I just had a nightmare."

She had barely finished talking when Daryl ran inside and hurried up to her, ready to fend off whatever evil was coming at her. He was just as surprised as the old farmer when he found nothing but her inside. "I just had a nightmare" She told him and waved him off as he asked her what was wrong. She met Hershel's eyes again and pursed her lips. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Nonsense, it's all right, nothing to apologize for" He assured her empathetically. "Are you sure you're okay, though? No pains or anything like that?"

"Yes, I'm fine" She answered and he nodded before leaving. She met Daryl's eyes and hoped he would leave soon because she didn't know for how much longer she could hold back her tears. "I'm fine, Daryl, you don't have to worry."

Daryl nodded, but instead of standing up and leaving, he stayed kneeling beside the bed with his eyes fixated on her. "It was just a nightmare" She repeated herself and felt how close her voice was to breaking. "It was just-" She could not finish her sentence as a sob interrupted her words and soon the tears came streaming out. He crawled into the bed and took her into his embrace, holding her tightly as she cried into his chest for the second time that night. This time, though, she fell asleep there. 

"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine 'cause he wasn't afraid to say what he thought. How he felt" Rick said and officially started Dale's funeral. They were out in the fields where they had buried Hershel's family and Sophia and had made yet another grave for the newest inhabitant. It was dusk and pretty chilly outside, but Armageddon could not care less as she stood before the grave, beside Daryl and held his hand. She didn't remember how it happened, but she was glad it did because it surprisingly comforted her to have another hand to hold and a person to give you a shoulder to cry on at times like these. "That kinda honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale and he'd be lookin' back at me with that look he had, we've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us, the truth. Who we really are. In the end, he was talking about us losing our humanity. He said this group is broken. The best way to honor him is to un-break it, set aside our differences and pull together. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety, our future. We're not broken, we're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

The funeral did not last long after that and Shane, Andrea, T-Dog, Daryl and Armageddon went to explore the farm and find its weak spots, where walkers might come in and get rid of said walkers if there were any. It was a hard day and everyone was sad and angry and they all took that anger out on the dead.

After that, Hershel announced that everybody was moving in since being out in the open wasn't safe anymore and Rick gave everyone orders and directions to move the cars closer to the house and volunteer for lookouts at various places on the farm. Daryl and Armageddon came to a silent agreement that he would move in with her and sleep by her side for both their sakes.

While everyone moved their stuff into the house and got settled down, Armageddon sat by the RV with Dale's hat in her hands. She could not get herself to move or do anything except sit there and stare at the abyss. At first, people tried to get her to butt in, but they quickly gave up on it as they realized that she was not listening. She was not going to move anytime soon and they took sympathy on her solely because she was pregnant and blamed the pregnancy and grieving for her actions. They may have been right, she wouldn't know, all she could think about was how people around her were slowly dying off one by one and soon there would be no one left and she would be just another dead person roaming the streets. Daryl stopped by regularly and tried to get her to eat and even to talk, but she refused to acknowledge him and eventually he'd have to stand up and get back to work. She knew he felt sorry for her and wished her well, but at the moment, there was nothing he or anyone else could do for her but give her space.

At one part, Andrea ruptured that space when she decided to move the RV, which made Armageddon clamber to her feet before settling herself inside. She had a hard time turning the engine on and Glenn ended up helping her after taking a look under the hood of it, commenting that only Dale knew the secret to starting it immediately with no problem.

"Where's Armageddon?" She heard Daryl outside of the RV after Glenn and Andrea had immobilized it near the house.

"She's inside" Andrea answered and Armageddon felt a wave of dread wash over her because she was not in the mood for company. She had been so relieved to finally be alone, but that was very short-lived.

"Hey" Daryl said when he came inside and saw that she was sitting on one of the benches with her hands in her lap and fighting the tears for the umpteenth time that day.

"Hey" She said quietly and watched him sit down in front of her.

"Rick asked me to come with him to get rid of the guy" He told her.

"When will you go?"

"I don't know, sometime soon" He told her. "Just wanted to let you know."

"Thanks" She said and squeezed out a small smile that did not reach her eyes. "I've got a question."

"Shoot."

"Would you tell me if you'd kill him?" She asked and hugged her knees to her chest. "If something were to go wrong or if that's Rick's plan all along, but he doesn't want to tell anybody."

"We're not killing him" He assured her.

"But, if it were to happen, would you tell me?"

"Of course" He promised and nodded sincerely.

"Thank you."

"You want me to keep you company?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"No" She answered shortly and shook her head. "I'd really like to be alone."

"Okay" He nodded and stood up before meeting her eyes for the last time. "You know where to find me if you change your mind." 

The kid was gone an hour before dusk. He had just up and vanished without anyone noticing, but when people noticed Shane was gone too, they started putting two and two together. After Dale died, Armageddon could not care less what happened to the boy and, frankly, she did not want to know. She did not want anyone else dying near her, so she wanted the likeliest ones to do so to stay away. She noticed, though, that she pushed everyone away and kept mostly to herself, ignoring and fleeing when people tried to make contact with her. She had lost too many people and there was so much going on in her life that it was too overwhelming for her to know what to do with herself. So, instead of being out and about and helping out in the group, she stayed locked away in Dale's RV and stared aimlessly at the abyss as she fought her tears.

Not long after, Lori came to escort Armageddon back into the house. "I'm not leaving" The younger girl retorted and shied away from Lori's brown eyes.

"This isn't about what you want, it's about us stickin' together" Lori told her. "Randall's loose and he's got Shane's gun, Lord knows what he'll do."

Armageddon met her eyes before shrugging. "I ain't afraid" She told her carelessly and shook her head. "Hell, let him kill me. It'd be for the best."

"This has gone on far too long, come on!" Lori snapped and marched up to her before grabbing her arm and dragging her to her feet.

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?" Armageddon exclaimed and freed herself from Lori's tight grip.

"We're not losing another group member, you hear me?" She told the younger girl and stared deeply into her eyes. "Don't do that to us; to Carl or Daryl. They both need you."

Armageddon wanted to object, but she knew there was no fighting that stubborn woman so she let her drag her into the house and lock her up in there with the rest of the group.

Two hours passed and absolutely nothing happened except the anxiety in the atmosphere intensified. Some people tried to make small talk, but it always worked horribly and never lasted for long. Armageddon was tempted to move to the bedroom that she had been given and isolate herself there, but she couldn't bring herself to stand up from where she sat on the floor with her back against the wall, staring at the main door and waited for somebody, anybody, to come in with some news. Finally, though, two hours later, Glenn and Daryl finally came.

"Rick and Shane ain't back yet?" Daryl asked as he noticed there were still two people missing from the whole group. He met her eyes immediately and when he saw she was fine, he looked over to Lori, thinking she would be the likeliest to know where Rick was at all times.

"No" She answered shortly.

"We heard a shot."

"Maybe they found Randall" She suggested and shrugged casually.

"We found him."

"Is he back in the shed?"

"He's a walker" Daryl told her in a matter of fact tone before meeting Armageddon's eyes. He had remembered what he had promised her and he had been intent on keeping that promise ever since he found Randall's roaming corpse. Armageddon did not seem to care very much, though, as her eyes were emotionless and seemed to stare through him blankly.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked and thrust his hands into his pants' pockets.

"No, the weird thing is, he wasn't bit" Glenn told him before directing his words to the rest of the group.

"His neck was broke" Daryl chimed in.

"So, he fought back?"

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him" He told her in a matter of fact tone. "They were together."

"Would you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on Earth is goin' on?" Lori requested in a desperate tone and met his eyes.

"You got it" Daryl answered and was about to head out again, when Armageddon finally addressed him.

"You the new errand boy now, Daryl?" She asked before climbing up to her feet and approaching him so that she wouldn't have to raise her voice for him to hear her. "You just gonna go out there every time Lori asks you to bring back her missing husband?"

"What's your problem?" Lori exclaimed, but both Armageddon and Daryl ignored her.

"Come on" He said and grabbed her arm before dragging her outside. "What's wrong?" He asked after closing the door behind him.

"Don't you think Rick's just fine fending for himself?" She asked him and arched her brows. "He's a big boy with probably a lot of self-defense training under his belt."

"Shane's gone off the deep end" Daryl informed her and thrust his hands into his pants' pockets. "He killed Otis and left him for the walkers and he was the one who snapped Randall's neck. Pretty sure Rick's next."

"'Cause he's with Lori?"

Daryl shrugged casually. "Don't know" He answered. "Just know that Shane wants to get rid of him."

He was about to turn around and walk away when she grabbed his arm and stopped him. He looked at her, but she refused to meet his eyes. "I don't want to lose any more people."

He met her eyes and looked deeply into them. "You ain't gonna lose me" He promised sincerely.

She pursed her lips and met his eyes before nodding. She let go of his arm and they shared a look before he turned away and was about to walk off when he spotted something in the distance. He grabbed her arm and made her look and they both watched as a herd of walkers slowly approached them from afar. "Hey!" She called out loud enough to be heard from inside the house, but quietly enough to not attract unwanted attention, though she knew that was unaviodable.

"Oh my god" Andrea mumbled as the group slowly filed outside and saw what was ahead of them.

"Patricia, kill the lights" Hershel said quietly.

"I'll get the guns" Andrea announced. Armageddon looked over to Daryl and saw he was looking back at her with the same look of fear in his eyes as she knew she had in hers. _There are too many of them_ , was her first thought. She then realized how many people were around her and realized that they may be okay, but she could not help but sense immediate death. It was about to happen and she knew she would lose even more people and she hoped to God that Daryl would not be one of them because he was the only person she knew she needed for this world. If she were alone, she would die, not because she relied on him for protection, but because she relied on him to take care of the unwanted baby that grew inside her, like he had promised to do.

"Maybe they'll just pass us like the walkers on the highway. Shouldn't we go inside?" Glenn asked distressful.

"Unless there's a secret tunnel I don't know about. Herd that size will rip the house down" Daryl told him and looked from the scared Asian man to the walker herd that slowly approached them. Armageddon, knowing that she may never get the chance to do so ever again, ran away from the house and was almost stopped by Daryl, went into the RV and fetched Dale's hat and the other crime novels he had offered her before running back inside and packing her essentials.

When she came back outside she heard that Hershel was determined to stay on the farm and fight for it, saying that he would rather die there than to go on the road. She looked at Daryl and he knew he was then ready to do the same because he had always been determined to let her live on that farm during and after her pregnancy, as he thought this place was the safest place in the world. "All right," Daryl said and snapped her out of her thoughts. "It's as good a night as any."

She watched him leave before fetching a shotgun and running after him. She was determined to stay by him for as long as she could. "What're you doing?" He asked when she ran over to him.

"You said it yourself, this _is_ as good a night as any" She said in a matter of fact tone before raising her shotgun and firing, killing the first walker of the night. They got on his motorcycle and she held on tightly and felt every nerve in her body tense up as they neared the giant herd. He stopped right by the picket fence and they took as many of them down as they could before Daryl told her to sit back down, that there were too many of them approaching.

Jimmy, the farm hand, was driving Dale's RV and was parked near them when Daryl rode up to him. "Yo, maybe Rick and Shane started that fire in the barn to draw them away. Circle around and try to find them!" He called out and motioned with his chin to Hershel's barn, which suddenly was ablaze. Jimmy nodded quickly before driving off.

Daryl drove back to the house right in time to see Mac loading their stuff into his red pickup truck. "Mac!"

"Daryl!" Mac called out. "Hurry the fuck up! They're everywhere!"

Daryl stopped the bike and Armageddon got off before he started it again and turned around. "I gotta check on the others!" He told them. "Wait here!"

"Daryl, no!" Armageddon cried out.

"We gotta go now!" Mac yelled. "Shut your mouth and get in the truck!"

Daryl did not listen and drove off. "Get behind me" Mac grunted before shoving her back and standing in her way. He took the shotgun she held and used the last of its ammo to take down three more walkers. When the chamber clicked empty, he threw away the gun and fetched a pistol that he had tucked in his pants before he started shooting again.

"Hershel, Mac, Armageddon, come on! We gotta go!" Lori cried out over the loud booming of gunshots. Hershel turned away from the slowly-approaching walkers and ran off with them, but Mac and Armageddon stayed by his truck and kept on shooting before he inevitably dragged her in and drove off. He could not go very far as the walkers were everywhere and got in the way, eventually making him stop. They sat inside the truck and both thought about what they could do next to survive this hell hole. Gunshots were lessening and growling became noisier as the walker surrounded them and tried to bust into the pickup truck. It shook and trembled because of the walkers' pushing and trying to claw their way in and Armageddon felt a tidal wave of dread wash over her as she realized she was going to die there, sitting beside the man who had raped and impregnated her.

"Come on!" Mac yelled out, snapping her out of her thoughts. She saw he had opened the glass window which sealed the cab shut and he practically pushed her out before following her. Now, they stood back-to-back on the open cargo area and thought of a way to push past the walker crowd. Armageddon was the first one to get out her knife and drive it into a walker's skull and Mac soon followed. After she had incapacitated the fourth walker, though, the walker fell dead to the ground with her knife still lodged into its skull.

"I lost my knife!" She exclaimed and kicked at the nearest walker that tried to grab at her feet.

"Here" He heard him grumble before she felt something thrust into her lap. It was a large butcher's knife.

"Thanks" She said breathlessly and met his ruthless blue eyes for a second before turning to the walkers and continuing taking them down, one by one.

Before she knew it, Mac grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the pickup truck. He had killed enough walkers to secure a way to get out of there without being grabbed at by any unwanted things. He gripped her arm as they ran away and pulled at it harshly, digging his nails into her flesh, as he came to a quick stop before turning on his heel and heading the other way as there were walkers who blocked his path. Armageddon had no idea towards what they were running to and aimlessly followed him, thinking of one thing and one thing only; to survive. Her heart was racing like a motherfucker and her lungs ached from all the stress-induced heavy breathing, not to mention that her thoughts were racing so fast inside of her head that she could not register a single thing around her except her need to escape.

They stopped once more and now Armageddon knew it was all over. There were walkers all around them and there were too many to fight off and escape from. On her last living moments, Armageddon was determined to think about her husbands and her previous life and she believed that she would go to heaven even though she didn't believe in God just so she could finally reunite with the two loves of her life. She called out a mental image of Murphy smiling and Connor laughing at something stupid that she had said. She envisioned them in Ma's house, lounging on her old, blue couch and the TV playing in the background, something they mindlessly watched from time to time. It wasn't quite a memory, but it was a good mental image that she knew would make death more bearable.

Mac snapped her out of her thoughts when he pushed her to the direction where there were less walkers before calling out her name. She turned around only in time to watch him back away from her and for a second, only for a millisecond, did she believe that he had sacrificed her to save his own ass. Then she watched half a dozen walkers tear into him. He threw her his pistol and shared one last eye contact where he mentally told her his last living wish. Armageddon raised her pistol, aimed it between his eyes before firing, putting him completely out of his misery. The walkers didn't care that he was dead and practically lined up on him to have a taste of the feast. As she watched this happen, she could only recollect one memory of him. _"You're disgusting and one day you will pay for everything you've done."_ That last sentence floated around in her mind as she watched the walkers claw open his body and feasting on his innards.

She eventually turned on her heels and shot the nearest walkers before running as fast as she could as far away as her feet would take her. She shot two more walkers before the chamber of Mac's old pistol clicked empty, but instead of throwing it away since now it was a useless piece, she tucked it into her pants and kept on running, now pushing and dodging the walkers that tried to come after her.

She had not been doing that for long when Daryl's motorcycle stopped right in front of her. He had emerged out of nowhere and had both startled and relieved her. She jumped on and wrapped her arms tightly around him, tighter than she should have and buried her face in his shoulder as she started to cry vigorously. The constant fear and anxiety, along with all the people she had witnessed dying in front of her the last two days really caught up with her and hit her like a truck.

"Hey" He suddenly yelled out and turned his head to meet her eyes after driving on for ten or so minutes. "Come on, climb on front."

She obeyed mindlessly and sat down in front of him before resting her chin on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around him. She was all cried out and now she felt more tired than anything else. Daryl sped off, but stopped soon enough, as he found Carol running about all by herself and told her to get on. That was when Armageddon realized he had asked her to move, but she gave it no more thought and closed her eyes, clearing her mind before everything went completely dark.


	29. Men of Honor

Men of Honor

 **End of season 2**

"Where are we?" Armageddon mumbled as she looked around the best she could while holding onto Daryl and not getting in his way as they rode on. She met Carol's scared eyes for a second, who sat behind him, before looking to the right and watching the trees pass them by.

"We're goin' to the highway" Daryl told her loudly enough to be heard through the roar of his motorcycle.

"Mac's dead" She said and a sob escaped her throat once more as the realization hit her. She met Daryl's eyes for a second before tears started blurring her vision.

"Shh" He said and patted her back. He didn't say anything more, but she knew he was just as devastated as she. Armageddon had hated Mac, she had hated him with every fiber in her body. He had been a selfish prick who preyed on others and didn't care about nothing and no one but himself and getting what he wanted. But, that didn't mean that he had still sacrificed himself to let her live. He had always shown nothing but contempt and lust towards her, always treating her like an object or a servant, but in his final moments, he had showcased true goodness by saving her and she liked to think it was because he knew that she had more to live for and would be missed more than him. She was the one who was carrying his baby, so he realized that she had more of a right to live. He had most likely done all of this because of the baby that neither of them seemed to have wanted, and that really tore her heart apart in both sorrow and assuagement.

"We can't go back there" She mumbled and sniffed, trying to tone down her sobs to sound audible. "We can't."

Daryl said nothing and she knew he didn't take her seriously. "Daryl!" She exclaimed and felt kind of bad for it since her mouth was right by his ear, but she brushed that thought away. "We can't go back, that's where the walkers came!"

"You don't know that" He muttered and increased their speed.

"I do and I know you do too!" She insisted. "Why should we go back there?"

"'Cause that's where the others will be!" He finally answered.

"I thought you said-" She started, but he cut her off.

"You said it yourself you don't want to lose more people. The ones who made it will be there."

She pursed her lips and stared at him, not knowing what to say or think. She wasn't sure about his plan, but she had nothing better to bring to the table, so she just looked at him for a while before resting her forehead on his leather-clad shoulder and closing her eyes once more.

After driving for about an hour after the sun was up, they finally made it to the highway and the first faces they saw there were Rick, Carl and Hershel. Carl's gloomy face lit up when he saw Armageddon and he ran over to her as soon as Daryl stopped the bike. She hugged him and felt a bit better having someone to hug and show that they were happy she was alive, but that was short lived when she realized that the three guys were the only guys on the highway. "Where are the others?" She asked when he finally let go of her and looked from him and to Rick and Hershel.

She had just finished saying those words when a blood-stained car came to her vision and she could see Glenn and Maggie's distraught faces inside. After them was Shane's blue car, but there was no Shane inside, only Lori, T-Dog and Beth. Everyone rejoiced and embraced each other and Armageddon found herself standing beside Daryl, watching everyone reunite, while holding onto his hand tightly, interlocking their fingers and enjoying how his large hand practically ate hers up. Their eyes met for a few seconds and they shared a look before looking back to the others. So many people were still missing; Andrea, Patricia, Jimmy. She had to assume that all of them were dead on the farm, just like Mac.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked Rick when things had settled down.

"We're the only ones that made it, so far" Rick answered and met his eyes before meeting Armageddon's.

"Shane?" Lori asked. Rick's answer was a shake of the head and Armageddon saw how Lori's heart broke in her eyes after hearing those news. _She must have really loved him_.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

"She saved me before I lost her" Carol told him.

"We saw her go down" T-Dog chimed in, making everyone frown and some people even got tears in their eyes.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked dreadfully.

Beth shook her head and fought the tears that formed in her eyes. "They got her too" She said before her voice broke and she started crying. "They took her away from me. I was... I was holdin' onto her, Daddy." She cried in her father's embrace before turning to her older sister. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV. It got overrun" Rick told her somberly.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked desperately.

"There were walkers everywhere" Lori told her with a heavy sigh.

"Did you see her?"

"I'mma go back" Daryl suddenly spoke up and let go of Armageddon's hand before climbing onto his motorcycle.

"I'm coming with you" She said and followed in suit.

"No" Rick said and stopped them both.

"We can't just leave her!" Daryl insisted.

"We don't even know if she's there" Lori reasoned.

"She isn't. She isn't, she's either gone or she's dead" Rick said coldly and shut them all up.

"So, we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked surprised.

"We gotta keep moving, every place is crawlin' with walkers."

"I say we head East" T-Dog suggested strongly. Armageddon heard a growl in the distance and saw a walker slowly approaching them.

"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the roads, the more assholes like this one" Daryl said before picking up his crossbow and shooting it right in the head.

"Why are they everywhere?" Armageddon mumbled despairingly to no one in particular. "Why can't they just all die?"

Daryl met her eyes and flashed her an empathetic look before taking her hand in his and squeezing it a little bit to reassure her. They soon left after that, gathering all the supplies they could find and Daryl even brought her a couple of paperbacks he had found in the abandoned cars and a large hoodie to keep her warm. She had forgotten most of her stuff when everything went down on the farm, so she was grateful for his acts of kindness. She was also grateful to remove her current jacket, which was blood-stained and reeked of death to replace it with the hoodie Daryl brought her. It was comforting and even reminded her of the time before the apocalypse hit when she would wear her husbands' large hoodies on cold days and revel in the large and soft material.

They had been on the road for an hour when Rick, whose car was the last one, suddenly honked his horn and made everyone come to a stop. "You out?" Daryl asked when Rick approached the rest of them.

"Runnin' on fumes" He answered.

"We can't stay here" Maggie said.

"We can't fit everyone in one car" Glenn pointed out afflictedly.

"We have to make a run to get more gasoline" Rick told them all.

"So, we stay here?" Carol asked dubiously.

"I'm freezing!" Carl exclaimed and moved closer to his mother, who took him into her embrace.

"We'll build a fire" She assured him and kissed the top of his brunette head.

"I'm gonna go look for firewood, stay close" Daryl said and met Armageddon's eyes before turning away and heading into the forest, which had stayed on both their sides ever since they left the farm. It was an ominous sight, which brought them walkers once in a while, but it hadn't mattered while they were on the move. Now, however, now it became even more menacing. "I only got so many arrows. How you doin' on ammo?"

"Not enough" Rick told him and shook his head somberly.

"Well, we can't just sit here with our asses hangin' out" Maggie said impatiently.

"Watch your mouth" Hershel mumbled. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

Armageddon did not like the way Hershel said those words and how everyone now was leaning on Rick for guidance for everything, but she was too numb and too depressed to say anything. Even if she did, she didn't have any better suggestions since everyone was too agitated to make their own decisions. "All right, let's set up a perimeter" Rick said and took the charge, just like everyone hoped he would, with a brave face and buried his feelings. "In the morning we'll find supplies and gas and we'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go now and get some gas" Maggie suggested and gripped the rifle she held tightly.

"We stay together. God forbid someone gets stranded without a car" He said and shut that idea down permanently.

"Rick, we're stranded now" Glenn begged to differ.

"I know it looks bad" Rick said and sighed. "We've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure, I really wasn't, but we did! We're together and we'll keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere, there must be someplace."

"Rick, look around" Glenn said hopelessly and met his scared blue eyes. "Okay? There's walkers everywhere, they're migrating or something."

"There's gotta be someplace!" Rick insisted strongly. "Just to hold up, to fortify. Hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other! I know it's out there, we just have to find it!"

"Even if we do find a place, we think we're safe, we can never be sure for how long" Maggie said gravely. "Look what happened at the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking we were safe."

"We won't make that mistake again" Hershel insisted and seemed like he was full of hope, despite everything they had gone through.

"We'll make camp tonight over there" Rick said and pointed to some kind of stone ruins that now were only a couple of walls. "Then we continue at the break of day."

"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asked Daryl and Armageddon who listened quietly and kept to themselves.

"What if walkers come through?" Beth asked. "Or another group like Randall's?"

"I doubt there's anything living here for miles" Armageddon commented quietly and crossed her arms.

"But, what if?" Beth reiterated. Armageddon did not know what to say that would not sound pessimistic in her ears, so she just shrugged.

"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl said to Rick and captured his attention completely. "He'd turned, but wasn't bit."

Rick narrowed his eyes at him before looking away. "How's that possible?" Beth inquired.

"Rick, what the hell's going on?" Lori asked distressfully. "What the hell happened?"

"Shane killed Randall, just like he always wanted to" Daryl told her in a matter of fact tone.

"And the herd got him?" She asked and kept her eyes fixated on her husband.

Rick refused to meet her eyes and pursed his lips before answering. "We're all infected" He told everyone. "At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

"Holy shit. Oh my god" Armageddon mumbled and started walking away from them. "Shit, fuck, oh no!" She felt overwhelming fear wash over her as his words processed in her mind and she could only think about one thing. _The baby inside of me is dead and it's gonna eat me alive from the inside out_. "Oh my god! Fucking hell, holy shit!" She exclaimed, her heartbeat quickened and her breathing became shallow. Her lungs didn't get enough air and she soon started hyperventilating; she was having a panic attack.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Daryl asked anxiously and put his hands on her shoulders. He tried to meet his eyes, but she was too distracted by her panic attack to register anything except for the fact that she was carrying a disease that would make the baby inside of her eat her alive like in the beginning Rosemary's Baby. It became harder and harder to breathe and her hands and feet started shaking like crazy.

"What's wrong with her?" Someone asked in the background as she fell to her knees and wheezed loudly.

"Armageddon?"

"She's having a panic attack" Hershel announced and walked up to her before grabbing her chin and meeting her eyes. "Follow my lead," He told her before inhaling deeply with his nose. He held his breath for a few seconds before exhaling slowly through his mouth. He did this a couple of times and encouraged her to do the same and soon she started catching on. "Everything's okay, we'll be okay."

"No, we won't!" She disagreed and lost the breathing tempo, thus falling back into wheezing. "We're all gonna die, starting by me."

"Why do you think that?" He asked calmly.

"'Cause the baby's dead and it's gonna eat me alive."

"Nonsense."

"Yes, it fucking will!" She exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

"Calm down" Daryl told her.

"Don't tell me to fuckin' calm down" She said and jumped up to her feet before shoving him, her panic turning into white rage. "You have no fuckin' clue what I'm goin' through-"

"Armageddon, quiet down!" Rick exclaimed. "You're gonna attract walkers."

"Fuck you!"

"Hey, look at me" Daryl said calmly and grabbed her shoulders once more, turning her around so that she was facing him before meeting her eyes. "That baby's not dead and it's not gonna eat you alive. You're gonna be just fine, I'mma make sure of it."

"How can you know?" She asked softly and shook her head in despair, trying her best to fight the tears that formed in her eyes.

"'Cause Hershel's a doctor and if the baby would be dead, he would have noticed it and let you know."

She stared into his eyes for a while before looking behind her shoulder and meeting Hershel's eyes, mentally asking him if Daryl was right. "He's right, I would've" He assured her and nodded. "And you would've, too. You may not be far along, but you would definitely notice if the fetus was dead."

Armageddon inhaled deeply and pursed her lips before meeting Daryl's eyes right when tears started streaming down her face. "We're still gonna die."

"No, we won't" He told her softly and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "We're gonna be just fine."

Glenn argued with Rick that he should have told them this a long time ago, but Rick did not listen and insisted that he had thought everyone would have been better off not knowing. Armageddon saw how everyone's views on Rick changed after that fact was revealed and now less people seemed sure of trusting him.

The night got even more chillier and Armageddon wished she hadn't thrown away her old jacket as she sat as close to the small bonfire they had built and tried to keep herself warm. She sat huddled up beside Daryl and tensed up as she tried her best not to shiver. He tried to get her to eat, but she refused as she had no appetite and told him if she tried, she would only hurl it all out. "You feelin' sick?" He asked her softly and wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulders, embracing her and trying to warm her up.

"I never stopped" She told him through clenched teeth.

"How you doin' now, though?"

"I'm okay."

He met her eyes. "Would you tell me if you ain't?"

She pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah" She answered quietly.

"We're not safe with him" Carol said softly and snapped both their heads in her direction. "Keepin' something like that from us. Why do you need him? He's just gonna pull you down?" She asked and directed her words to Daryl.

"We gotta stick together, no matter what" He answered just as quietly. "That's how we stay alive."

"Not with someone like him leading us."

"Then you take the charge" Armageddon said softly in a matter of fact tone. "No one's oppressing you and we're all grown adults who can make our own choices."

"I'm not fit to lead" Carol told her and shook her head weakly before meeting Armageddon's eyes once more. "But you are! You're strong and you're righteous."

"I'm the loudmouthed pregnant lady, nothing else."

"That's not true."

"She's right, you ain't" Daryl told her sincerely.

"This is not the time to be having this discussion" Armageddon said and shook her head. "Let's just all do what we can to survive and if you don't like Rick bossing you around or following him like a lost puppy, then don't. But, please, don't leave. We're not safe all by ourselves."

"You're his henchman" Carol said and directed her words once more to Daryl. "And I'm a burden."

"Keep talkin' like that and we're all burdens" Armageddon told her in a matter of fact tone.

"We deserve better" She begged to differ.

"What do you want?" Daryl asked and furrowed his brows at the older woman.

"A person of honor."

"Rick has honor."

A rustle sounded off and everyone's attention went in the direction of the sound. "What was that sound?" Beth asked and her voice was laced with fear.

"Could be anything" Daryl answered and stood up, wielding his crossbow and got ready for whatever it was out there. "Could be a raccoon, a possum-"

"A walker?"

"We need to leave" Carol insisted and jumped to her feet. "I mean, what are we waitin' for?"

"Which way?" Glenn asked ignoring Carol's words and focusing on the sound they had heard.

"It came from over there" Maggie answered and pointed East.

"Where we came."

"Yeah."

"The last thing we need is everyone running in the dark" Rick said exasperated. "We don't have the vehicles and we're not traveling on foot."

"Don't panic" Hershel chimed in in a loud whisper, loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"We're not" Maggie said calmly. "I'm not sittin' here while another herd passes through. We need to move now!"

"No one's going anywhere!" Rick exclaimed quietly and was steadfast on his words.

"Do something!" Carol hissed.

"I _am_ doing something!" He retorted harshly, startling her. "I'm keeping this group together. Alive! Like I've been doing all along. I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people for Christ's sake! You saw what he was like. How he pushed me. How he compromised us. How he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice! He was my friend, but he came after _me_!" Carl could not take it anymore and hugged his mother tightly before sobbing into her chest. "My hands are clean."

He stopped for a moment and took a good look around before he continued. "Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's another place we can go to, maybe that's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go out there and find out for yourself? Send me a postcard!" He exclaimed and met every person's eyes who dared to look at him. "Go on, there's the door. Let's see how far you get!" He waited a couple of moments and when nobody showed any signs of leaving, he spoke up again. "No takers? Fine. If you're staying, let's get one thing clear; this isn't a democracy anymore."

Daryl met Armageddon's eyes and he could see how she disagreed with Rick, but she never said a word. She just kept quiet and ultimately looked back to the fire before her and watched the flames dance around.

Later that night Daryl and Armageddon ended up sitting with their backs against the nearest stone wall, Armageddon with her knees pulled up to her chest and Daryl with her huddled against his chest. He had his arms around her and tried his best to make her feel at peace, considering their circumstances. She still hadn't stopped trembling and it was starting to bother him, as he feared that it would eventually hurt or affect the baby in some way. "Does anyone have a blanket, or something?" He suddenly spoke up and captured everyone's attention. The group was still so tense and afraid after everything that all he got was a shake of the head. He sighed before taking off his jacket and wrapping it around Armageddon.

"Don't do that, you'll get cold" She insisted and tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen.

"I won't get cold."

"Yes, you will."

"You'll get warm and then you'll keep me warm" He bullshitted in a matter of fact tone and she finally let him do that. "Sleep, you need it." She said nothing, just rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Soon, she her breathing became rhythmic and she stopped trembling.

Armageddon awoke by Daryl twitching. She figured that he was fighting to stay awake and as she opened her eyes and looked around, she saw that he wasn't the only one. It had gotten a tad warmer and she wasn't sure if it was because he had given her his jacket or if it was the atmosphere. "How long was I asleep?" She croaked out quietly, hoping not to wake up the lucky ones who still slept.

"A couple of hours."

"Okay, your turn" She said and handed him his jacket.

"What?"

"I've gotten my fair share, now it's your turn."

"No, you go back to sleep. Don't worry about me" He said dismissively.

"Daryl, you're gonna need to be well rested for tomorrow or else you won't be able to do anything" She told him in a matter of fact tone. "It's okay, I'll take watch and we both know I'm not the only one awake and alert."

He eventually nodded and she let him rest his head on her shoulder. She put her arm around his shoulder and buried her fingers in his dirty, brunette hair and gently played with it and massaged his scalp, calming him down until he fell asleep.

He only let himself sleep for fifteen minutes at a time, sometimes for a shorter amount of time, but never for longer and he was finally settling for a good night's rest when it was time to leave. "Daryl" She whispered softly into his ear, snapping him awake and almost getting his elbow in her face.

"What?" He grunted and hastily looked around, only to see the group waking up and scrambling to their feet.

"It's time to leave" She told him softly. "I would offer to drive so that you can sleep for longer, but I don't know jack-shit about motorcycles."

"Ain't no way I'm lettin' you drive Merle's bike. He'd kill me if I broke it" He mumbled and rubbed his tired eyes before a shadow crossed his face.

"Fair enough" She said and stood up before stretching her arms and legs, wallowing in the sweet relief she got for a few seconds before snapping herself into reality and feeling a shiver go down her spine as the cold hit her. She had no idea how long this day would stay cold and she was tempted to get into one of the cars with the others, but she knew she would only get carsick, so she stuck by Daryl's side and let him ride her into the sunset with the others.


	30. 28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later

"I'd kill for some S'mores right now" Armageddon mumbled and picked at the small bonfire with a stick. They had been on the road for almost a month, living on squirrels and edible leaves, with just a bit of canned goods, never staying in one place for longer than a day and barely ever stopping or resting unless necessary. They had found some gas and managed to siphon it so they didn't have to walk, but that didn't mean it didn't get tiring always being on the road. She had no idea where they were, if they were still in the same county or even in Georgia any more, her only known location was by Daryl's side, whom she rarely wanted to leave or vice versa after a month of constant fear and anxiety of getting eaten alive.

"S'mores?" Daryl repeated and furrowed his brows at her. He sat beside her and they shared a coarse blanket that they had found in a car wreck.

"Yeah, and some hot chocolate" Carl mumbled and his stomach grumbled.

"Ah, that would be nice" Armageddon said with a dreamy voice before meeting Daryl's confused eyes. "S'mores is when you take two biscuits, put a marshmallow in the middle and then put it by a fire so that the marshmallow melts inside. It's a tradition when you go camping or sleeping outside."

"What kind of biscuits?" He asked curiously.

"Just any biscuit" She answered and shrugged casually. "Though, my favorite were the ones with a chocolate topping, it gave an extra flavor that was vital to a perfect s'more."

"I'm gonna die" Armageddon mumbled and sighed deeply.

"No, you ain't" Daryl responded irritated.

"Yeah, I am" She said and nodded before meeting his eyes. He noticed how her face lost all color and her breathing hitched. "I'm either gonna get eaten alive from the inside by this fucking baby or a herd of walkers will tear me up like a buffet." She raised her voice, her eyes started watering and her voice broke in the end. "Oh, fuck, I don't want to get eaten alive" She cried out and suddenly started hyperventilating.

"Armageddon, you ain't gonna get eaten" Daryl said and stopped her before she could say anymore, grabbing her by the shoulders and staring deeply into her olive green, terrified eyes.

She didn't listen to him and broke away from him, shaking her head and mumbling something inaudible under her breath until she started wheezing. "We.. We ain't gonna live through this" She said in wheezes and now was struggling to catch her breath. "We're all-"

"Hey, look at me" He said calmly and stopped her, grabbing her chin and making her look at him. "Tell me about the book we found the other day."

"What?"

"I got you exactly what you asked for; action, gangster book and you said you'd already read it."

Armageddon furrowed her brows at him in confusion before her mind finally registered what he was talking about. "You mean L.A. Confidential?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, that's it. The one with the weird, gangster name" He nodded.

"It doesn't have a gangster name" She commented and shook her head.

"Whatever" Daryl said and shrugged casually. "Tell me about it."

"What do you mean?" She asked confusedly and refused to believe the obvious answer to his question. She could not comprehend the reason why Daryl would want to hear about some stupid book that she had read ages ago.

"What's it about?" He answered and confirmed her doubtful thoughts.

She furrowed her brows even more that her forehead was starting to hurt, then she dismissed the confusion and decided just to answer. "Uh, it's about these three distinctively different cops trying to solve a homicide case in Los Angeles. I don't remember their names, but I remember the names of the actors who played them. So, there's Guy Pearce, who plays a young and honest rookie, there's Kevin Spacey, who plays an older cop who doesn't take his job very seriously and mocks it by being in a cop TV show as well and then there's Russell Crowe, who's just one of those cops that doesn't follow the rules and if he doesn't like the criminal he arrests, he'll just beat on him as he likes." She cleared her throat and was surprised as clear flashbacks of the movie played in her mind, a movie that she hadn't seen in years and was surprised to remember so much. She met Daryl's eyes just to see that she had captured his complete attention and that he was listening to every word she said. "Okay, yeah, so these guys all work in the same police department and have the same boss, who is secretly taking over a drug empire and is corrupted as shit, killing everyone who gets in his way, and when a murder occurs that links all three main cops together, they slowly find out one by one that their boss is the man behind the curtains. Kevin Spacey dies first, the boss shoots him, and Kevin realizes that the boss had also killed Guy Pearce's Dad, who was also a cop. When Kevin goes missing, Guy realizes what's happening and he and Russell ultimately put their troubles aside and band together, just so Russell can get shot in the face by the boss in the end fight, but somehow manages to survive and runs off into the sunset with the beautiful Kim Basinger, who plays a hooker involved in all of this. The boss is killed and Guy Pearce is hailed as the hero, and the whole movie is narrated by Danny DeVito who says the famous sentence ' _and very hush hush_ '."

"What does that mean?"

She chuckled and shook her head slightly. "He runs a magazine in the movie called Hush Hush and is basically gossip about L.A.'s elite, among them are the cops, and he's also being fed juicy info by Kevin Spacey before he dies."

"Is the movie better than the book?" He asked curiously and she was still astounded by his words. She had never in a million years guessed that Daryl would take an interest in something so stupid as movies and her opinions on them. The others were likelier to do so and she had already engaged in interesting conversations with various members about it and pop culture in general, but never Daryl.

"They're pretty much the same" Armageddon said and shrugged carelessly, now her panic attack completely gone and she had forgotten that she even had one. "I mean, the movie skipped a few things from the book and the book described the characters differently than they look in the movie, but I still liked both and cannot complain. Plus, it's a neo-noir and I don't know many things that are better than that."

"Neo-noir?" He repeated with furrowed brows and looked like he didn't believe that that was a word.

"Yeah, um, a noir is a genre that was pretty popular in the forties and fifties. You know, those black and white, mysterious cop movies with the anxiety lead guy who chain-smoked and drank whiskey in shady bars in his free-time. And there was always a beautiful, mysterious woman who was always somehow connected to the murders the cop was investigating and they almost always hooked up sometime in the movie. A neo-noir is the modern version of that."

He nodded, but she could see it in his eyes that he did not comprehend most of what she explained.

"I've got an idea of what the baby should be called" Armageddon said as she stared down at her protruding stomach and stroked it. Daryl found her so beautiful like that, blossoming with upcoming motherhood that she had finally learned to accept.

"What?" He asked and met her eyes before putting his hands on top of hers on the belly.

"I wanna call her Von."

"Von?"

"Yeah, you always keep talking about how she's humanity's hope for a better world and von means hope in Icelandic" She answered and stared deeply into his eyes.

"That's beautiful" He told her sincerely and their fingers interlocked. "We'll call her Von. But, what if it's a boy?"

"I don't know" She answered and looked away. "I hadn't really thought about that. I just feel so sure that it's a girl" She told him before meeting his eyes again and he nodded in empathy. "Do you have any ideas?"

"How about Murphy?" He asked and the second that name escaped his lips, her face lost all color and she turned away from him.

"No" She said and sniffed, taking a moment before looking at him again. "Not that."

"Okay" He said softly and apologized. "What about Oscar?"

"Oscar's nice" She answered quietly and nodded. "I like it."

{UNFINISHED}


	31. Children of Men

Children of Men

Armageddon pursed her lips and fought the urge to whimper as a searing pain went through her lower back and down to her legs. She knew what it was, but she refused to believe it was really happening after all that time. She was not ready to give birth, so she pretended like the contractions didn't faze her and didn't let it show to the others what was happening. It was a stupid thing to do, she knew that, but she clung to the hope that if she ignored it, it would go away.

"You okay?" Daryl asked when he saw her tense up and her face grimace in pain.

Armageddon brushed everything away and the pain started to fade, so she could pretend like she was fine. "Yeah, I'm okay" She told him in a reassuring tone. "Just tired."

"You wanna stop?"

"No" She answered quickly. "Absolutely not! Let's keep going."

The next contraction came an hour later and she reacted the same way, even though the pain only worsened. Two hours after that they started to come closer together and she stopped being able to fake a smile and lie and say she was all right. It got so bad that she had to grip a nearby tree and she grunted as she felt like her pelvis was trying to escape her body. This time, more group members started to notice.

"Oh my god, are you in labor?" Lori asked with a gasp.

"No" Armageddon grunted and tried to pretend like she was fine even though she was in more pain than she could imagine. "I'm fine. I'm fuckin' f-"

"Let me take a look at you" Hershel said and approached her.

"No!" She cried out. "No, I mean it. I'm fine. This is just a, what do you call it, Braxton Hicks thing. I'm not about to-" She could not even finish that sentence because of her contraction.

"Armageddon" Daryl said softly and grabbed her free hand.

"No" She whimpered and met his eyes before her vision got blurry because of her tears. "I'm not having this baby now. I'm not. I can't." The words had just escaped her lips when something wet trickled down her legs and wet her pants. She had not peed herself, her water broke.

"It's okay, Armageddon" Hershel said in a reassuring tone and put his hand on her shoulder. "I think we both know that it's time and even though I wished you could give birth in a better place-"

"No!" She exclaimed once more and blinked away her tears. "I'm not giving birth. Not now."

"I'm not sure you have a choice" Hershel told her somberly. "When did you have your last contraction?"

"Um, I don't know, I don't really have a sense of time" She told him and shook her head.

"We can't stop here" Rick chimed in.

"No, this is not the place to give birth" Hershel agreed before meeting Armageddon's eyes again. "Let me know when the next contraction comes." He saw how she was about to object so he continued and shut her up. "You can't escape from this. You're having this baby whether you like it or not."

"I'm gonna go look for a house or something" Daryl said and let go of Armageddon. He was gone before she knew it. Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and Maggie went with them, while the rest stayed in place and tried to assure Armageddon as much as they could. Lori was eight months pregnant and knew the most what she was going through, so she was the most helpful because, just like Armageddon, she did not want to have to give birth in the chaotic mess that this world had come to.

Daryl returned fifteen minutes later with no news. He came just to check up on Armageddon and she could see it in his eyes that he didn't want to leave her for too long. She wanted to ask him to stay with her, but she kept her mouth shut as she knew he would not stay even if she would beg him to. He was going to do whatever he could to make this as best for her, and that meant finding a decent place for her to give birth in.

An hour later Rick and the gang returned with good news. "There's a cabin a mile away" He said and met Armageddon's eyes. "It's not big and it's pretty run-down, but it's the best we can have."

Armageddon had experienced two contractions while waiting for them and was glad to hear those news because she was afraid of how loud she could get when the contractions would get closer together and when the baby would be making its way out into the world. She was in enough pain as was, she was not ready for more. The noise would attract walkers and if she were to die during childbirth, she would at least want the baby to survive, for Daryl's sake, but that could not happen if she did it out in the open.

She clung to Daryl the entire walk there and had to stop once as each contraction hurt more than the previous one. He had offered to carry her, but, knowing they were all malnourished and that she had gained at least twenty pounds during the pregnancy, she shut that down because she didn't want to put that extra pressure on Daryl, even though she believed he could easily carry her the whole way. It was also her pride that got in the way and she was determined to make it on her own and refuse to be carried until she could no longer operate her legs.

The cabin was more like a run-down wooden shack that she could not believe had come to any use before the apocalypse. It could fit five people without cramming together and there were no furniture inside. There was nothing inside except for a rusty furnace at the end of one room. It stunk of wet wood, there were dead mice in the corners and it wouldn't surprise her if the whole shack was full of mold and termites. But, this was the best place to give birth to that was offered to her and she happily accepted it.

The group made a place for her to lie down by putting their blankets and spare clothes on one side of the room, the closest she could get to a bed. "We'll be outside, Armageddon" Rick said to her and they shared an intense eye contact. "Good luck."

"You want me to stay with you?" Lori asked her, snapping her attention from Rick and to her.

"There needs to be as few people as we can manage, which means everyone but the father, myself and Maggie stay" Hershel answered for her and Armageddon rejoiced at that statement. She did not want to be some display for everyone to watch, even though childbirth was considered to be beautiful, she did not want anyone to watch as her vagina stretched out to push out a goddamn baby.

Everyone obeyed Hershel's demands and Armageddon sighed in relief when there were only four people left in the shack, before another contraction ruined that bliss and left her in a state of agony. Daryl knelt by her side and let her squeeze his hand as tightly as she wanted as she experienced one contraction after the other. She heard Hershel and Maggie talk about something, but she could not make out what they said as the only thing she heard were her own whimpers and grunts as she fought the pain.

After hours of practically rolling around on the wooden floor in pain, gripping Daryl's hand like her life depended on it and feeling her whole body tense up as the contractions came one after the other, Hershel finally announced that she was ready to start pushing. She had heard ruckus outside and guessed that her wails may have attracted walkers and she would have felt sorry for those outside, but she could not for the life of her focus on anything except the searing pain inside of her lower body.

"Have you practiced on your breathing?" Hershel asked her.

"What?" Armageddon asked and furrowed her brows at him.

The veterinarian demonstrated how specifically she was supposed to breathe so it would be easier and would hurt less when she started pushing. "I don't know if I can do this" She confessed and tears formed in her eyes for the umpteenth time that day.

"Yes, you can" Hershel told her determinedly. "You're gonna give birth to this baby and you're going to be fine. You're a healthy, young woman. This will be as easy as eating pie."

"Easy for you to say, you've got a dick!" She snapped and felt frustrated to be told that she would do well in this when she believed strongly that she wouldn't. _I'm going to die. I'm going to die giving birth to this baby and it's probably going to be stillbirth as well_.

"I won't let you die" Daryl told her softly as if he had read her mind. She met his eyes and he flashed her a reassuring, protective look that made her feel only slightly better. "You're gonna be fine. You and the baby."

"You'll take care of her if I die, though?" She asked and stared deeply into his clear, blue eyes. "Like you promised?"

"Of course" He answered and nodded. "But, you won't die."

She disagreed when a contraction came, worse than any other, and was followed right away by another. "Okay, Armageddon, you can start pushing" Hershel told her and he and Maggie positioned themselves between her legs, ready for what was about to come.

It was hell. It was like literally pushing a canary melon out of her vagina. It hurt on levels she didn't know could hurt and she was both mentally and physically drained when she was barely halfway done. It took all of her strength and more, almost breaking Daryl's hand and a lot of loud, vulgar curses to everyone and everything in the world until the baby finally popped out and into Hershel's hands, screaming and crying its lungs out. Hershel's straight and focused face broke and a wide, bright smile entered his lips as he held the newborn. "Congratulations" He said and looked up to Daryl and Armageddon, who both stared flabbergasted at the infant in his hands. "It's a girl."

At that moment, Armageddon burst into tears for the last time that day and sobbed in relief that this was over and also in sorrow that she had now officially brought an innocent human being into this cruel, hellish world. She thought back to _the Great Gatsby_ and a quote sang in her ears; _I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool_.

Maggie cut the umbilical cord, took the baby out of her father's hands and cleaned it as best as she could before handing it to the exhausted and melancholic mother. Armageddon stopped crying immediately when she got the baby into her hands and she stared at it in awe, thinking she had never seen anything as beautiful and precious as that little human being. She stared back at her with Mac's eyes, the only difference between her and her father was that she was innocent and Armageddon planned on making her stay like that forever. "Oh my god" She mumbled and immediately changed her mind on what she made Daryl promise those nine months ago; she was never letting that baby out of her sight.

She heard Daryl sniff and saw that he had tears in his eyes. "She's got the Dixon eyes" She told him in a dreamy voice.

Daryl nodded and a lone tear ran down his cheek. "Yeah" He mumbled and sniffed, fighting back the urge to sob uncontrollably at the sight of that beautiful newborn. She was wrinkly and her skin was almost pink in color, but that didn't mean that she was the most angelic thing they both had ever seen.

"Do you want to hold her?" She asked him and tore his eyes off the baby.

He met her eyes and stared wide eyed, almost gaping. "Are you sure?" He asked stupendously.

"She's yours as well" She told him with a smile on her face. "You are the father."

A smile spread on his lips before he carefully took the baby out of her hands and cradled it, handling her with care and cautiously. She could see how in love he was with the infant and she could not be happier. The reality they both knew disappeared from them and as they held their daughter for the first time and they completely forgot about the hell that the world had turned into.

"Have you picked out a name yet?" Maggie asked and smiled just as brightly as the two. They had both forgotten that they were not all alone in there.

"Von" He whispered as the little girl stared wide eyed up at him and grasped at his face. He chuckled at her before meeting Armageddon's eyes, as if waiting for her to respond.

She nodded and looked from him and her daughter and to Hershel and his daughter. "It's Icelandic for hope."

"What did you say it was?" Hershel asked with a creased brow.

"Von."

"Like the family in the musical?" He chuckled. "The Von Trapps in the Sound of Music."

"Yeah, like that" She giggled.

When the group got wind of it, they filed in one by one to take a look at the newborn and admire her. They all paid her and the mother compliments, saying how she looked like her in some ways and like Daryl in other ways. They were all smitten and some even got to hold her. Daryl and Armageddon watched as Lori held her in her arms with Carl standing right beside her, staring wide eyed at the baby, who stared right back, beaming with so much joy that they wouldn't believe it was the end of the world outside of that shack. Maggie and Beth got to hold her too, as well as Carl, Glenn and Carol, who teared up when she held the infant and congratulated her sincerely.

They stayed in the cabin overnight, Daryl and Armageddon sleeping on the makeshift bed with Von between them, and Carl, Lori and Hershel bunked with them as well, while the rest slept outside in a nearby camp or kept watch. Daryl would have volunteered for watch, but Armageddon did not want to let go of him as she was too afraid that her daughter would lose a father figure if he dared to do so, thinking he would get eaten by a walker as soon as he walked out that door.

But, they had to keep going eventually, and Armageddon was more than ready to get up and on her feet without any extra baggage, consisting of much more energy now than when she was still pregnant. It was surprisingly easy being on the road with an infant, she slept most of the time, barely cried, but when she did, it was either because she was hungry or needed a change of diaper, which they had to make out of old clothes. She could fall asleep anywhere and did not complain about being held and on the move all the time. She was the perfect baby and Armageddon and Daryl were so happy with her, Daryl happier since this was what he had been waiting for and better than he had ever hoped for. Armageddon could see it on his face that he loved that little girl more than she did and it made her happy because she knew, out of the two of them, he would survive and protect her longer.


	32. The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

 **Season 3**

After a long time of being on the road, scavenging for food, supplies and searching for a shelter, Rick finds a house that he deems worthy to sleep in for the night, maybe two. He, T-Dog and Daryl go in first, guns, crossbows and knives a-blazing, after that Armageddon and Carl, armed with silent guns and big knives. They had all long ago come up with a plan on how to empty a house full of walkers, and it reminded her of a police raid she saw on TV and wondered, as they split up and took down the assailants inside, if he had organized this like he had been taught to raid a house before the apocalypse. This was a two-story house with many rooms, probably belonged to a wealthy middle-class family before shit went down.

"Armageddon, I got dinner!" Daryl called out when the raid ended. She was downstairs greeting Beth, who had been watching Von while they rid the house of any unwanted presence. She turned around, with her baby in her arms, and saw Daryl holding a dead owl.

"I hope you didn't take it from a Hundred Acre Wood" She said and chuckled.

"What?"

"It's a reference to _Winnie the Pooh_ " She told him. He nodded but she could see it in his eyes that he did not understand what she was talking about.

The whole group settled down in the large living room on the first floor of the house. Armageddon, Von and Daryl sat in one corner that was slowly piling up with feathers as Daryl cleaned and prepared the owl for eating. There was a rift that had formed between Lori and Rick, which was because of Shane, Armageddon guessed, and things got more and more tense between them every day, until they ultimately stopped talking to each other. Maggie and Glenn had gotten much closer and had become an official couple to the group. Lori was big and round, her ninth month of pregnancy just right around the corner. Carl had found some canned dog food in the kitchen, the only edible thing in the whole place besides Daryl's owl, and had just finished opening one can when his father took it out of his hands and threw it at the nearest wall, mentally telling him that no one would be eating dog food, even though Armageddon was hungry enough to try it and she knew others were as well.

T-Dog made a quiet sound and turned everyone's attention to him before pointing out the nearest window, where half a dozen walkers were slowly creeping towards the house. Armageddon handed the baby over to Carol and was about to get herself ready to take the walkers down, when Daryl stopped her and told her they would rather flee than fight. Everyone escaped through the back door and then they were out and on the run again, after getting to rest for barely half an hour.

Von objected to this loudly and started crying, much to everyone's disdain and Armageddon hurried into the nearest car, all the while shushing and telling her daughter to be quiet and that everything was all right. Daryl got on his motorcycle and Carol sat behind him, switching places with Armageddon since there was no more space in the car - a silent agreement they had come to after Von was born and she realized she couldn't carry her infant on a motorcycle - and soon they were out on the roads. "It's okay, sweetie" Armageddon said quietly in a reassuring voice as Von cried loudly. "It's okay, baby."

When Von did not seem to be calming down after a couple of minutes, Armageddon tried a different approach. " _Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away?_ " She sang softly and bounced her little girl on her shoulder before Hershel, surprisingly, joined in. " _Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came! You wanna be where you can see troubles are all the same. You wanna be where everybody knows your name_."

Von calmed down and stopped crying completely when Hershel and Armageddon stopped singing the Cheers theme song. It had been the first song that came to her mind and it had worked like a charm, getting another person to join in was even better. It did not take long until Von fell asleep in her arms with her thumb in her mouth.

They stopped an hour later in the middle of the road to decide where to go. It had become pretty much of a routine that Armageddon was sick of, since they did nothing but go in circles and decide to continue going in circles. Or, Rick did and everyone just let him rule. No one had gotten killed yet because of him, so he was fine in Armageddon's book and she let him think he was ruling like Joseph Stalin, when in fact he could easily be overthrown if she wanted to. She knew she was worthy enough to become the next leader of this group, but she just didn't have it in her, especially now when she was a full-time mother and even then she shared that role with Daryl, whom she was entirely grateful for because she never would have gotten through those nine months or the years to come without him.

"Hey," Daryl said and snapped her out of her thoughts. He stood by the car and loaded his crossbow. "We're gonna head West next."

"Okay."

"What do you think about that?" He asked and she noticed how he really wanted her opinion, agreeing with her and some others that she could be a good leader and thus wanted her to have an opinion on things.

Armageddon shrugged. "West has the lowest amount of walkers, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then that's where we'll go."

He nodded before putting his crossbow down to the ground and leaning closer to the mother and daughter. "How's she holding up?" He asked and gently ran his thumb down her cheek, softly enough not to wake her.

"She's fine, she just wanted a little break from all the moving around" She answered and smiled as she looked down at her daughter and admired her. "She's resilient, she'll get used to it."

"She shouldn't" Daryl said softly and shook his head before meeting her eyes. "She deserves a home. Permanently."

Armageddon pursed her lips. "That was never likely to happen" She told him somberly and shook her head.

"Yeah, it was. We had the farm" He disagreed.

" _Had_ " She repeated before a shadow crossed over her face. "I never should have gone through with having her. Who knows how long she'll have in this world."

"Don't say that!" He said and snapped her out of her dark thoughts. "She's gonna outlive this whole fucking thing and nothing bad's going to happen to her."

"You don't know that."

"You don't know if she will either" He retorted. "We just gotta believe. Hope."

Armageddon pursed her lips and looked away, looking back down to her sleeping daughter, whom she had fallen in love with the second she got to hold her. "Rick n' me are gonna go hunt" Daryl told her and erupted the silence that had formed between them. He leaned down even closer and kissed Von on her forehead before meeting her eyes. Armageddon could see it in his eyes that he wanted to kiss her too, and was torn between wanting him to and not wanting him to.

"Good luck" She said quietly.

"Thanks" He said and by that, he was gone.

They were not gone for long, though. "We found a place" Daryl told her and seemed excited and hopeful. "A prison."

"A prison?" She repeated and furrowed her brows.

"Yeah, it's overrun, but I believe we can clear it and make it ours."

When Armageddon thought about it, a prison did seem like a good idea; there were high fences everywhere, impenetrable bars, cells and guard towers. "Let's go" She said and got up to her feet. She handed Von to Beth, who promised to keep her safe and Armageddon loaded herself with weapons.

Rick cut a hole into the outer fence and everybody slipped in before he closed it back up with a wire. Adrenaline rushed through Armageddon's veins as she ran with the others, surrounded by walkers on both sides of her. If she were claustrophobic she would be freaking out, but she knew she could not let fears or anything get in her way, so she turned everything off and let her instincts drive her on.

He divided them all into groups and one by one they took down walkers and sealed a nearby gate, getting them closer to the actual prison and with less walkers to deal with, even though there still were plenty.

They cleaned out the whole main prison yard and Armageddon could barely believe it as she walked in through the gates and realized that they were locked in and completely safe. Those walkers couldn't do anything but stand by the fences and try to grasp at them, they could do nothing more. She met Daryl's eyes and she saw hope glimmering in them. He took Von out from Beth's arms and smiled at her before approaching Armageddon. He was about to hand her to her, when she stopped him. "No, you hold onto her" She told him and smiled. "It suits you."

"I told you we would find a place" He said in a matter of fact tone. "Ya just had to wait a bit."

"How great is this, though?" She said and felt very weird; she felt happy for the first time in a long time. "We are sealed in and nothing can get to us."

"Don't count your lucky stars just yet" Rick said and interrupted them. "We'll be taking the inside tomorrow. Don't know how many could be in there."

"Why not settle for this?" She asked him and creased her brow.

"We need shelter" He answered.

"But, we don't need to risk our lives any more than we have to."

"We have to, okay?" He retorted before walking off.

They spent the night in the yard, huddled up close together while Daryl and Rick insisted on keeping watch on either side of the yard. They ate bird- and squirrel meat that Daryl hunted for them and chitchatted for the first time in a while, smiling and even joking around.

"Tomorrow we pull the bodies together, wanna keep them away from that water. Now, if we can dig up a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water" T-Dog said as they sat by a bonfire and planned for the future of the new life. The prison life.

"And the soil is good. We can plant some seeds; tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans" Hershel said hopefully before looking from the dirt and to Rick, who was at the opposite end of the yard. "That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."

"Prisons are usually build to not get compromised" Armageddon pointed out as she nursed her daughter, who drank greedily from her mother's breast. "Places like this one, I doubt it. Who knows, maybe it was built to be the exact replica of Alcatraz."

"There were people who escaped Alcatraz" Glenn pointed out.

"Yeah, because of guards and underground pipes, not too large windows or holes in the walls" She answered and shrugged casually. "Although, if there were any rock collectors here, we might have a problem."

"Why?" He asked and furrowed his brows at her. Others did the same thing.

She chuckled and shook her head at the group. "Haven't you seen _The Shawshank Redemption_? Tim Robbins was a rock collector who slowly managed to escape his prison cell by using a small rock hammer to dig a hole into the wall of his cell."

"You mean that Morgan Freeman movie?"

"Yeah."

"This will be a good place to have the baby" Beth told Lori in a reassuring tone before meeting Armageddon's eyes with a smile on her lips. "Safe for you both."

"I hope so."

"Bethy, sing Paddy Reilly for me. I haven't heard that since your mother was alive" Hershel said and disrupted the silence that had formed around the group.

"Daddy, not that one, please" Maggie said with a frown on her face.

"How about Parting Glass?" Hershel asked hopefully.

"No one wants to hear" Beth answered and seemed flustered.

"If you don't mind, Von and I'd like to hear" Armageddon told her and buttoned her shirt back as her baby had finished her dinner.

"Okay" Beth sighed and didn't seem very excited to do this before she started. " _Of all the money that e'er I had, I spent it in good company. And all the harm I've ever done, alas it was to none but me. And all I've done for want of wit to mem'ry now I can't recall. So fill to me the parting glass. Good night and joy be to you all._ " She paused for a bit and as she did, Daryl sat down beside Armageddon and put his hand around her shoulders, before Beth continued and Maggie joined in. Rick soon came back from his walk around the yard and listened as the Greene sisters sang a lovely tune and got everyone to forget about their troubles, if not only for a few minutes.

"Better turn in" Rick said when the girls stopped singing. "I'll take watch over there. We got a big day tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked him.

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win, but we gotta push just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. It looks like this place fell pretty early which means that the supplies could be intact. They have an infirmary, a commissary-"

"An armory?" Daryl chimed in, sounding curious.

"Better be outside the prison itself, but not that far away" Rick answered. "Warden's office's would have information on the location. Weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a goldmine."

"We're dangerously low on ammo" Hershel pointed out soberly. "We'll run out before we even make a dent."

"That's why we gotta go in there! Hand to hand. After all we've been through, I know it" He insisted and looked from one person to the other before looking to his son. "These asshole's don't stand a chance." Carl nodded and Rick nodded too before getting up to his feet and marching away, with Lori following right behind him.

Von whimpered in Armageddon's hands and since she had just been fed and changed, she decided to give her to Daryl. "Here, I think she wants her Daddy" She said as she handed her to him. It still felt weird to call him the father, but as soon as Daryl took her in his arms or she saw him take care of Von in any way, she could see the true fatherly instincts in him kick in and nothing seemed truer. Mac might have been the biological father, but Daryl was the real deal. She thought about this as she watched him take her and quietly shushing her, stroking her back and whispering comforting words to her until she calmed down. Armageddon knew Daryl loved her and felt bad because he had loved her since the day Armageddon realized she was pregnant, while she, herself, hadn't cared much about that baby until she held her for the first time. She felt bad because even though she loved her daughter with all her heart, she knew Daryl loved her even more. It was both a good and bad feeling as she knew she would feel guilty about it forever, but that forever might not be as long as Daryl's, so she might not have to worry about it got too long.

The next day Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn and Armageddon went past the yard and ventured deeper into the prison on a mission to take down the rest of the walkers. They formed a circle and one by one took down the walkers there. The rest of the group were by the gates and tried to lure the dead towards them. It was a scary, adrenaline-inducing job that liberated Armageddon and made her feel more alive than before she got pregnant, as she never got into as much action then. Daryl still tried to get in the way of that, but as she was too agile to not participate.

More and more walkers emerged, this time wearing protective and inpenetrable gear. Daryl tried taking it down by shooting at it with a crossbow, but it failed completely. The only thing that worked was pushing them away to take down ones that weren't wearing head-protecting gear. There was an open fence with a lot more walkers behind a corner, which made everyone stop and back away to take a breath and gather wits. Rick then, decided it needed to be shut so he called out to Daryl and ran over to the fence with him as his backup, while T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn and Armageddon tried taking down the protective gear-walkers.

Maggie ultimately found a way to take them down by lifting up the headgear and thrust a knife into its skull. Everyone saw it and took part, while Rick and Daryl closed the gate, until every walker was dead. Glenn was about to run to the others when Rick stopped him. "What? It looks secure" Glenn objected.

"Not from the look of that courtyard over there" Daryl pointed out before pointing to a female walker. "And that's a civilian."

"So, the interior could be overrun by walkers from the inside?" T-Dog asked.

"Well, if there's walls down, what're we gonna do? We can't rebuild this place?" Glenn retorted and furrowed his brows.

"We can't risk a blinds pot" Rick told him and did not seem afraid at all. "We have to push in."

They went up a fenced stairway before opening up a door leading inside to the prison. Two steps in and they were greeted by bars. It was pitch black inside and they could hear faint echoes from the inside. The bars were not locked and made a loud squeaking sound when Rick pushed them open. Armageddon got goosebumps and felt way too self-aware than she was comfortable with as they slowly entered the prison. She had no idea of what was lurking inside the shadows, human or otherwise, and she wasn't sure how much the six of them could take.

There was nothing inside the shadows. They had entered an empty cell block, a lounge like they had in the block like in the TV show Oz. They even had a guard room upstairs, where Rick found a set of keys that got them further inside. There, they got to the actual cell block, where trash was scattered all around. There were dead people in some of the cells, but seemingly no walkers. High on one wall was the letter C, indicating that they were in cell block C.

There were two walkers, both of which were locked in their cells upstairs and easy kill for Daryl and Rick, as they were the ones that found them. They were dragging the walkers out of the cell block and cleaning up the trash to make things more homely when the rest of the group came in, carrying their stuff. Carol was the one who had been watching Von as they cleaned up the block. She was crying, but immediately stopped when she was handed to her mother.

"What do you think?" Rick asked the group as everyone filed in.

"Home sweet home" Glenn said sarcastically.

"For the time being."

"It's secure?" Lori asked and looked around.

"This cell block is" He assured her.

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel asked him.

"In the morning we'll find the cafeteria and the infirmary."

"We'll sleep in the cells?" Beth asked hesitantly and did not seem very happy about it.

"We found a set keys from some guards" Rick answered her. "And Daryl's got a set too."

"I ain't sleepin' in no cage" Daryl announced.

"Aw, come on, it'll be cozy" Armageddon said with a smile on her face before nudging him. "Come on, I've picked a place."

He stared at her for a long time before he eventually decided to follow her to a cell upstairs that was one of the cleanest. "I've set up here and I'm thinking it could fit the both of us" She told him and sat down on the cot. "I'm thinking Von'll sleep between us until we find something for her to sleep in."

"You still want me to sleep with you?" He asked her and arched a dubious brow.

"Yeah" She answered and the smile faded from her lips. "What do you mean?"

"On the road, I thought it would be to keep you and Von extra safe" He said and shrugged casually.

"We were sleeping together long before we went on the road" She pointed out in a matter of fact tone before arching a brow. "What? You don't wanna play Daddy anymore?" She asked him and felt a tidal wave of dread wash over her as she feared her might have changed his mind about the two of them.

"Yeah, of course, I do" He told her and nodded. "Forget what I said, this cell is fine."

Armageddon pursed her lips and was about to say something when her daughter started crying. She tried feeding her, she checked her diaper and she even tried to make her burp, but in the end she realized that the infant might have sensed her and shared her feelings of confusion. She started singing to her the _Cheers_ theme song yet again and glanced at Daryl while she did, waiting for him to join in, but he never did. "You know," She said when the song was finished and her baby had stopped crying. "It's okay for you to sing to her. If anything, I think it helps."

"Not much of a singer" He told her and shook his head.

"Neither am I."

"Sure, you are."

"It doesn't matter if you are or aren't, I think it really soothes her" She told him and looked from him and to her daughter, who stared up at her with bright blue eyes that came right from the Dixon family. "Hearing your voice; singing, talking to her, whatever."

"I talk to her sometimes" Daryl said and sat down beside her.

"Oh, yeah?" Armageddon scoffed.

"Yeah, I tell her about my hunts and how to use a crossbow" He told her in a matter of fact.

"It might be a better idea to do that after she's learned how to walk and move her hands properly" She said and chuckled.

Daryl chuckled too and stared down at the baby he had taken in. "She seems to like it."

Armageddon met his eyes and a smile twitched on her lips. "She seems to like you" She said softly and realized that their faces were only inches apart. From there she could see how his tanned skin looked a bit darker due to grime and dirt that had set in, the way his blue eyes sparkled in the light that streamed in, how his lips were chapped, very light freckles on the bridge of his nose and how his aroma of sweat and dried blood didn't seem that bad up close. She felt a chemistry between them that she wished she could deny and felt ashamed of herself as she felt a longing to inch closer to him and get to know the taste of his lips. She knew he could feel this too, she could see it in the way his eyes shone with craving. She had noticed that he had developed feelings for her when they were on the road and had shared many almost-intimate moments together and every time it got harder for her to turn away and remind herself that she was a married woman. She knew this was the apocalypse and that she might as well never see her two husbands ever again, the marriage becoming annulled as soon as the dead started walking, but she still felt incredible shame of the thought of having feelings for anyone but Con and Murph.

Von disrupted the moment by puking over herself. She started crying and snapped both parents back to reality. Daryl grabbed his du-rag and wiped her face while Armageddon took off her clothes and put on new ones that Glenn and Maggie had found for her when they were still on the road. Her diaper was still clean, so Armageddon did not need to worry about that and put on her a pink sundress with polka-dots all over.


	33. Death Race

Death Race

Armageddon was making her way around the cell block, checking things out when she overheard Lori and Hershel talking inside one of the cells. "It's the baby. I think I lost it" Lori said and sounded anxious.

"You haven't felt it move?" Hershel asked calmly.

"Nothing. No Braxton Hicks. Nothing. At first I thought it was malnutrition" She said before pausing. "If we're all infected, then so's the baby. So, what if it's stillborn? What if it's dead inside me? What if it rips me apart?"

"Stop" Hershel said. "Don't let fear take control of you."

"He's right" Armageddon said and decided to chime in. "Unnecessary anxiety is painful for the baby. There's no reason to be panicking. I mean, look at me, I was having several panic attacks a week, convinced that mine was dead and gonna eat me alive and look how that all turned out."

Lori pursed her lips and nodded before looking away, wiping a tear that was running down her cheek. "How many women died before modern medicine?" She asked Hershel before meeting Armageddon's eyes. "I'm not young and in good shape like you. I'm nearing my forties while you're not even twenty five yet."

"You're right, but it's still pointless to decide on how the future's going to be when you know you have no control over it" Armageddon told her sympathetically. "We don't know if you're gonna live or die, if the baby's gonna live or die, but we gotta hope for the best. That's the only thing we have nowadays."

Lori let out a sob and wiped away her shedding tears. "That's not enough" She bawled.

"Hey, it's okay" Hershel said and put his hand on her shoulder. "You'll get through this, I know it."

"If I die and come back..." Lori started and her voice broke as she said those words. "If the baby and I are walkers, you don't hesitate to put us down. You don't save us." She looked from him and to Armageddon before looking away from the both of them. "It would've been better..."

"If what?" Hershel asked.

"If I never made it off the farm."

"Lori," Armageddon said and sat down beside her. "There will come times when it looks like you've hit rock bottom, like life can't get any worse or scarier or uglier and you think it would be better to be rid of it and just... die. But, that's the negativity talking. It fades. There will come better times again, just you wait. The sun will shine on you once more."

"The one time I don't want you to play shrink, you do" Lori said and scoffed.

"Hey, I'm not doing this solely for you" Armageddon told her and met her eyes. "I'm doing this for Carl also, Rick, me, Hershel, Von, the others. You are a valuable member of the group and no one wants to lose you. If I was supposed to talk Andrea out of killing herself and make her feel better, then I'm doing it for you too."

"I don't think it's helping" She said and shook her head.

"No, now these are just pointless words" Armageddon agreed and nodded. "But, sometime, I don't know when, but there will come a time when you will remember these words and realize I'm right and you're wrong. There's always a rainbow at the end of a rainstorm. Always. Which means, there's always happiness after sorrow. You just have to wait."

The men, plus Maggie and Armageddon ventured deeper into the prison that day while the rest of the group stayed behind and hoped for the best. Daryl had asked Armageddon to sit this one out, but Rick had objected that she was a valuable member to the team and an asset they could not lose. She was happy to feel included and told Daryl that they would both be fine and would both return to Von after exploring that prison and seeing what was in there. He wasn't happy about her answer, but there was nothing he could say about it, so he just kept close to her and tried his best to protect her, even though he was well aware that she was capable of protecting herself.

The uncharted territory was cold, dark, leaking and, all in all, pretty scary. Something straight out of a horror flick, which even had the jump-scares that startled the hell out of you. But, they were all on their toes and ready for whatever came because they knew they should have expected anything. Glenn marked the walls with arrows to show where they came from and where they were going.

They had just turned a corner when a half a dozen walkers came ambling up their way, startling everyone and making them all turn back. That was when Armageddon was thankful Glenn had put those arrows on the walls. It was frightening to be running around in those dark halls, feeling like a rat trapped in a maze created by cruel scientists where the outcomes could only be two; survive or die. Her heart beat rapidly and this time adrenaline wasn't there to kick in and make her feel powerful. This time, she felt scared and powerless and wished she could be back safely in her cell, doing something relaxing like singing to her daughter.

Their original way was blocked by another group of walkers and a third group separated Glenn and Maggie from the rest. Armageddon felt the urge to scream, but she buried it under a ton of rocks and hoped and prayed that they would reach a haven soon.

When they finally came to a stop, Rick, Hershel, T-Dog and Daryl finally realized they were missing two people and decided to go back and look for them. To go back meant retrace their steps and try to make their way inside that dark labyrinth and avoid walkers, who seemed to be everywhere like in a horror video game. The giant difference between those two was that if you got bit, it meant you could not try again. Then it was game over and you would be shot in the head.

"Maggie? Glenn?" Hershel called out in a loud whisper.

Thirty seconds of silence passed by before a loud scream pierced the air. It was Hershel. Everyone turned around to see he was not with them anymore and when they traced their steps back, they found him lying on the floor, faced-down, with a walker chewing on his right calf. "No!"

Maggie and Glenn appeared from the other direction and Maggie was completely devastated to see her father like that.

Glenn and Rick half-carried Hershel, while Daryl covered them as they took a quick U-turn to avoid incoming walkers that were attracted by his screams. Armageddon had no choice but to run with them and drag Daryl with her, who was shooting arrows at the nearest walkers, trying his best to take them all down one by one, but there were too many for that shit.

"Oh, God!"

"Hurry!" Maggie cried out. Hershel was whimpering and moaning and speaking in tongues, he was so startled by what had happened. He was in shock and he could barely register a thing that was happening around him.

They found a set of doors that were closed off by a pair of handcuffs, and since that was the only way to escape from the nearing herd, they had no choice but to break the handcuffs and go inside, no matter what or who was in there.

It was an empty cafeteria, thank god. Daryl and T-Dog kept the door shut while the rest of the team members held Hershel down while Rick tied a belt around the bite-mark. Armageddon knew what was going to happen. She wished it wouldn't, she had seen enough bloodshed as is, but she knew she couldn't stop Rick as he flung his miniature ax down into Hershel's leg. It took a couple of swings until the leg was off and when it was, Hershel had passed out. This was a time stopper to Armageddon, seeing all that blood, witnessing a man's leg being cut off right in front of her, adrenaline racing in her veins after just escaping from three or more dozen walkers. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she barely believed she was alive, or that any of this was really happening. Her thoughts were racing so rapidly inside her head that she could not register a thing except for the bloody mess that was now Hershel's lower right leg.

"He's bleeding out" Rick announced under his breath. Daryl flashed him a look before glancing at Armageddon.

"Duck" He said quietly before getting to his feet with his crossbow pointed at something behind them. Armageddon did what he said, but her eyes followed to where he was aiming and saw five men wearing prison coveralls. They were inside some caged place she believed to be the entrance to the kitchen, reminding her more and more of the prison show Oz.

"Holy shit" An unfamiliar voice said.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl asked and approached them, never taking his eyes off them.

"Who the hell are you?" Another unfamiliar voice retorted. Armageddon took out her gun and jumped to her feet.

"Answer his fucking question!"

"He's bleeding out, we gotta go back!" Rick said and ignored everything that was going on and focused solely on the old man. "Put pressure on the knee. Hard. Push!"

"Come on outta there" Daryl said to the unknown men. "Slowly."

The first man to come out was a five foot eleven inched Latino man with greasy black hair that flowed down to his shoulders and wore a dirty wife beater. He had tattoos all over his body and had a gun tucked in his pants. "What happened to him?" He asked when he saw Hershel on the ground with one and a half leg. The others followed hesitantly behind him; two tall, African-American man, a lean Caucasian with red hair and a well trimmed moustache and a third African-American who was average height and seemed to be not much older than Armageddon.

"He got bit" Daryl answered.

"Bit?" The man repeated and put his hand on the gun.

"Take your goddamn hands off that gun!" Armageddon roared and went into a stare-off with the Latino, who did not seem fazed by her.

"Easy there, mamacita" He said and tried to sound charming. "Nothin' to be afraid of."

"Don't talk to her!" Daryl spat. "Now drop that motherfucking gun or I'mma put an arrow in your skull."

"Nobody needs to get hurt" T-Dog chimed in and pointed his pistol at the Latino man as well.

"You've got medical supplies?" Glenn asked them before storming into the kitchen, not waiting for an answer.

"Who the hell are you people anyway?" The Latino man asked with furrowed brows.

"Don't look like no rescue team" The redhead man commented and crossed his arms over his chest.

"If rescue team's what you're waitin' for, then don't" Rick said and prepared to hoist Hershel up to a large tray on wheels that Glenn brought from the kitchen. "Come on, we gotta go now! I need a hand here!"

Armageddon took it as her cue and lowered her weapon before going over to Rick and the rest and helped Hershel as much as she could. Rick and Glenn rolled Hershel forwards, Maggie held onto her father and assured him that he would be okay, while T-Dog and Armageddon opened the cafeteria door and handled the walkers that came their way. Daryl, however, kept his eyes on the prisoners. "Daryl!" She called out as they started to leave. "Come on!"

"Let's go" She heard him say and sighed in relief when she heard him follow.

It was a shit-show from beginning to end, with everyone on edge and fearing to be next, but ultimately they made it back safe and sound with no one else bit or injured. But, they were followed. "Get inside" Daryl said to Armageddon after they had gotten Hershel to the others and T-Dog locked the doors to the cell block. He put another arrow in his crossbow and got ready for the prisoners to come to them. "I'll handle this."

"There's five of them" She commented and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, and there's less of us either way" He retorted. "Get to Von, I'll be right there."

Armageddon was intent on staying and finding out more about those prisoners. She knew Von was in good hands and wanted to tell him if there was someone that should go to her, it would be him, but she kept that to herself and soon it was too late as the prisoners filed in one by one.

"That's far enough" Daryl said and stopped them.

"Cell block C. Cell number four is mine, _gringo_ " The Latino man told him.

" _Eso no es suyo nunca más, José_ " Armageddon told him in Spanish.

" _Quién crees que eres, puta_?" The Latino man retorted.

"Today's your lucky day, fellas, you've been pardoned by the state of Georgia, you're free to go" Daryl said and stopped Armageddon before she got the chance to answer for herself. Being on the road had made her hostile towards anyone other than her group and she realized that as her first and only instinct was to tell that man to go fuck himself.

"What you got goin' on in there?" The Latino man asked and looked to the cell block.

"Ain't none of your concern."

"Don't be tellin' me what ain't my concern" The man retorted and took his gun out.

"Drop that fuckin' gun!" Armageddon roared out and took out hers. "We won't hesitate to shoot you."

"There's five of us."

"And only one with a gun" She told him before looking to the others. Two of them looked large enough to crush her easily with their bare hands, but she decided not to think about that as they did not seem as hostile as their self-appointed leader.

"Chill man," The larger of the three African-Americans said. "That dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now. Why are we still in here?"

"Man's got a point" Daryl said.

"I gotta go check on my old lady" The other tall African-American said and scratched his bald head.

"A group of civilians breaking _in_ to a prison you got no business being in. Got me thinkin' there ain't no place for us _to_ go" The Latino man said and narrowed his eyes on Daryl.

"Why don't you go out and see for yourselves?"

"Maybe we oughta be leavin'" The redhead man said and seemed distraught by all this hostility and weapons pointing around at each other.

"I'm not leaving" The Latino man said shortly.

"Well, you ain't stayin'" T-Dog said and came waltzing in with a pistol pointed right at him.

"This is my house, my rules, I go where I please!"

"This ain't your house, _bobo_ , this is the property of the government of Georgia" Armageddon told him in a matter of fact tone.

"Shut up, bitch!"

"Hey, don't tell her to shut up!" Daryl exclaimed and got ready to fire an arrow into him. He got closer to him and their eyes locked. "And if you call her a bitch one more time, I'mma rip your balls off, you hear me, spic? There ain't nothin' for you here, why don't you go back to your little sandbox?"

"Hey!" Rick called out and got in the middle of this, like a concerned father getting in between a fight in grade school. "Everyone relax! There's no need for this."

"How many of you in there?"

"Too many for you to handle" Rick told him.

"You guys rob a bank or something?" The Latino man asked and despite all of the seriousness going on, Armageddon couldn't help but burst out laughing. For just a moment she forgot about the serious problem at hand and could only think of how absurd that comment of his was. "What? Why don't you take that man to a hospital?"

It was at that moment everyone knew that those men had no clue on what the world had come into. Rick exchanged looks with his group members before looking back to the prisoners. "How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?"

The Latino man looked from him and to the others with confusion in his eyes, gripping the pistol even harder. "I don't know. Maybe ten months" He answered.

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it" The largest man told them.

"We heard about dudes going cannibal and dying and coming back to life. Crazy" One of the African-Americans said.

"One guard looked after us, locked us in the cafeteria, threw me this piece and told me he'd be right back" The Latino man told them.

"That was two hundred and ninety two days ago."

"Ninety-four, according to my calcu-" The redhead man started but was interrupted by the Latino.

"Shut up!"

"We'd be thinking that the army or the national guard be showin' up any day now."

"There is no army" Rick told them soberly.

"What'd you mean?"

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone."

"For real?"

"I'm serious."

"What about my moms?" One of the prisoners said and a shadow crossed over his face.

"My kids, my old lady!" Another cried out. "Yo, you got a cellphone or somethin' so we can call our families?"

"You just don't get it, do you?" Daryl grunted.

"No phones, no computers" Rick said and shook his head. "As far as we can see, half the world's population has been wiped out. Probably more."

Every one of those prisoners looked shocked and heartbroken hearing those words. Everyone but the Latino, who remained skeptical. "Ain't no way."

"See for yourself" Rick said before motioning them all to follow him. He took them outside and showed them the dead bodies that were incapacitated on the ground, as well as the ones that roamed the grounds.

"Damn, the sun feels good" One of them said and bathed out his arms as he entered the basketball court outside.

"They're all dead" Another commented.

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see these fences."

"You never said, how the hell'd you get in here in the first place?"

"Cut a hole in that fence by that guard tower" Daryl said and pointed West.

"That easy, huh?"

"If there's a will, there's a way" He said in a matter of fact tone and almost made Armageddon chuckle.

"Easy for you to say" The prisoner said and seemed offended.

"Hey, we had no guards stopping us" She told him casually. "Only the dead."

"So, what is this, some kind of disease?" A man asked Rick as he poked a dead man with a stick.

"Yeah, and we're all infected" Rick answered.

"What do you mean infected? Like AIDS or something?" The redheaded man asked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You don't see Freddie Mercury coming back to life" Armageddon told him in a matter of fact tone.

"I wish I did."

She chuckled. "Yeah."

"If I'd kill you, shoot an arrow in your chest, you'd come back as these things" Daryl told them all before pointing to a dead walker. "It's gonna happen to all of us."

"Ain't no way these Robin Hood cats are responsible for killing all those freaks" The Latino man said and shook his head.

"We're more like Ash from _The Evil Dead_ , if you hadn't noticed" Armageddon pointed out in a matter of fact tone. "Robin Hood stole from the rich and helped the poor, not fight the dead."

"Must be fifty bodies out here."

"Where'd you come from?" The Latino man asked and directed his question to Rick.

"Atlanta."

"Where ya headed?"

"For now, nowhere" Rick told him.

The Latino man stared him down before looking around. "I guess you could take that area over there, by the water. Should be comfortable" He said and pointed East.

"We're using that field for crops."

"We'll help you move your gear out."

"That won't be necessary" Rick told him solemnly. "We took out these walkers, this prison is ours."

"Slow down, cowboy."

"You snatched the locks off our doors," The shortest of the African-American said and waltzed over to him.

"We'll give you new ones, if that's what you want" Rick compromised.

"This is our prison, we were here first."

"Locked in a broom closet?" Rick said and arched his brows at them, making Armageddon snicker.

"If you guys are so tough, go clear out and get your own cell block" She said to them. "A bunch of big, strong criminals like you, shouldn't be so hard." Her words were true, but her tone was mockery.

"Not if C was mine first!" The Latino man objected. "Yo, this is my home-"

"This was your prison and cell block C was your prison cell. Why'd you want to go back there?" She asked and arched her brows at him, shifting her weight from one leg and to the other. "Why don't you go out into the world and check up on your families? You're free, you can do whatever you want, and you want to stay in the one place you would've escaped from the first chance you got?"

"That was before the world went to shit."

"All the more reason to leave and find your loved ones."

"They're dead."

"You don't know that" She said and shook her head.

"This is my fucking cell and I'm taking it back!" The Latino man said and drew up his gun once more, making Rick, Daryl and T-Dog raise their arms as well.

"Woah, woah! Maybe we can work this out so that everyone wins" The redheaded man butted in.

"I don't see that happenin'."

"Neither do I" Rick said.

"I ain't goin' back to that cafeteria for one more minute."

"There are other cell blocks."

"You could leave" Daryl said and looked more than willing to kill that spic. "Try your luck out on the road."

The Latino man stared Rick down before looking to his friends. "If these four pussies can take out this, the least we could do is take out our own cell block."

"Good luck with that" Armageddon said sarcastically.

"With what?" One of the prisoners asked.

"Atlanta here will spot us with some real weapons, won't you, boss?" He said in a really obnoxious tone that got on everyone's nerves. Armageddon could see how much Rick wanted to blow his brains out, and the strain it took on him not to.

"How stocked is that cafeteria? Five guys surviving for almost a year in there, must be somethin'."

"Sure as hell don't look like they've been starvin'" Daryl pointed out.

"There's only a little left" The Latino man said.

"We'll take half" Rick said. "In exchange, we'll help you clear out a cell block."

"Didn't you hear him? There's only a little left!" One of the prisoners objected.

"Bet you got more food than you've got choices. You pay, we'll play."

"Okay, but only if I get to spend one night with that spicy mami" The Latino man said and winked at Armageddon before flashing her a pervy look that told her he was doing unspeakable things to her in his mind.

Daryl almost jumped the guy and was stopped by T-Dog. "I'll cut your cock off before you try anything" She told him in a casual tone. He scoffed and only seemed to get off more by her words, just like Merle and Mac used to do. This time, though, she had the advantage of being a strange outsider, who they knew nothing about. "You don't believe me?" She asked and cocked a brow. "I'm not afraid to resort to cannibalism. I'll marinate it with your blood and eat it and it'll be the best dinner I've had the whole year."

Her words got everybody staring at her wide-eyed, especially the prisoners who went from looking at her as some woman, to a psycho. Rick disrupted the tense, silence air that had formed and continued. "We'll clear out a block for you and you keep to it."

"All right" The Latino man said and nodded curtly, avoiding Armageddon's eyes who bored into his back.

"But, let's be clear. If we see you out here, anywhere near our people. If I so much as catch a whiff of your scent, I will kill you" Rick said to him and looked him straight in the eyes.

He seemed to think about it for a few seconds before he responded. "Deal."


	34. Midnight Express

Midnight Express

Armageddon did not join them in clearing a new cell block for the prisoners. Rick insisted that they were fine on their own and that she should help keep an eye on Hershel in the meanwhile, maybe even start looking for the infirmary. When she got back, she saw that Carl had already found the infirmary and cleared it out and that Hershel had more than enough help. The women took turns on watching Von and told Armageddon that she had slept and behaved the whole time she was gone, not much of a surprise to her. She spent the hours that Daryl was gone in their cell, talking to Von and checking up on Hershel from time to time, though knowing that it was unnecessary as he had a lot of eyes on him and barely any space to breathe.

As she waited for Daryl to come back, she was visited by Carl, who seemed pretty pissed. "I hate my Mom sometimes" He said and sighed before sitting down next to Armageddon in her bunk.

"Why'd you say that?" She asked him and kept her mind open as she was not her own mother's biggest fan either and knew that feeling.

"It's just-" He started and sighed before shaking his head. "I try my best to look out for this group while Dad's gone. I found the infirmary and cleaned everything out and she just starts yelling at me and gets mad!"

"Well, you gotta look at things from her perspective" Armageddon said calmly. "Your her only son and the person she loves the most in this world, so she's terrified of losing you."

"I'm in as much danger as everyone else!" He objected.

"No, not to her" She said and shook her head. "It's you, then Rick and then everyone else. And you gotta respect that." She looked from him and to her daughter and realized he was in a similar predicament as she was when she was pregnant with that bundle of joy. "However, she's also got to stop treating you like a child and have just a bit more faith in you. I know you're still young, but you've proven you're just as much of a grown up as the rest."

"That's right."

"But, don't hold things against her" She said and stopped him from having any ideas. She had only said that to show she saw his side as well as hers. "She's got a different kind of mechanism as the others. Everyone's different and deals with things in their own ways, no matter if it affects others or not. So, don't hold it against her and don't take it so personally."

"Yeah, yeah, I should be happy I still have a Mom" He said in a dismissive tone and did not seem to understand what she was trying to say to him.

"Yes, but this isn't a guilt trip" She told him and met his eyes. "I'm on your side, Carl. I just want you to know that there shouldn't have to be sides and that even though some people get on our nerves, we should still show them respect."

Carl nodded and left soon after that. She had no idea if she had gotten through to him or if she had filled his minds with the wrong ideas and soon there was no time to mull it over as Daryl returned to her. "There are only two left" He told her somberly when he came by their cell.

"What?"

"One got bit and the other two came at us."

"Are you okay?" She asked and jumped to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine" He said in a dismissive tone and shook her off him.

"The others, the two remaining, they now have their own cell block and everything's good between us and them?" She asked him and wondered why they would keep those two alive if they had killed the others.

"Yeah, they were just failed thieves who got caught pretty early, they won't try anything" Daryl assured her and nodded. "If I suspected them to come after you or Von, I'd kill them in a heartbeat."

"Fair enough." 

Hershel was up and running a few days later. Well, up and running would be an understatement, but he had regained consciousness and even managed a few steps out of his cell on some crutches that Carl had found. It was awesome to see him doing so well in such a short time that it amazed Armageddon and got her to believe that maybe miracles did exist. She visited him a couple of times a day, often bringing Von with her because he had a knack with her and the two of them really seemed to get along. It was an unspoken decision that Hershel was now Von's grandfather, even though there was no blood relation. They were lucky to have such an older person in that group, that he had no choice but to become the grandpa they needed. Von would really need it in the future to have a wise old man telling her stories about life before all of this, life before the nineties - which was when Armageddon was born - and educate her on things only he could. She knew he was ready to do so by the way he held and talked to the infant and made her smile.

The prisoners decided they couldn't stay by themselves in that cell block, so Rick sent them on to the road with a week supply of food. Armageddon didn't really like that decision, but she kept her mouth shut as now it wasn't just her own ass she had to watch out for. Neither she nor Daryl wanted to risk Von's safety, so everyone agreed that this was the best thing to do. Everyone but T-Dog, who argued that they rather should have let them into the group. The way he argued and fought for those strangers made her think of Dale and she felt sad to think that if he would be there with them, he would think this too and he would be shut down just like he was when he tried to save Randall's life back at the farm.

It was a good day. Hershel managed to get all the way outside to the courtyard, almost by himself and everyone smiled as they saw him do so. He had Beth, Lori, Carl, Armageddon and Von following behind him, while Daryl, Rick and Glenn were on the other side of the fence, cleaning up bodies and gathering firewood. Carol, Maggie and T-Dog were then left to park the vehicles as close to the prison as they could and make everything more sustainable. The sun was shining, there was not a cloud at sight and Armageddon hadn't seen a walker up close for two whole days now. It was great.

Up until the moment she heard growls coming up from behind her. When she turned around, she saw a dozen, maybe two dozen, walkers ambling their way towards them, all starving for some fresh meat, and she was not armed with anything but her Swiss Army knife, which never left her pocket. That would have been enough if she wasn't holding her baby.

"Walkers!" Carl shouted, startling everyone before turning all attention to them. Lori and Carl started shooting them one by one and soon Maggie, T-Dog and Carol came and joined them. Armageddon had never felt so vulnerable in her life as she clutched her baby girl, who cried at the top of her lungs. She had no protection and she was not ready to start fending off walkers with one hand, while the other held her baby.

Armageddon followed Beth and Hershel as they hurried away. She felt bad for going with them because Von's crying attracted the walkers to them as they locked themselves in a nearby cage, but she had no other choice. "Beth" She said under her breath before turning to her. "Take her, I'll get rid of them."

"No, you're not going out there" Hershel said and stopped Armageddon as she was about to leave the cage. "You need to stay here. Von needs you."

Hands tried to claw at them and the walkers pushed themselves closer and closer to the gate, trying their best to get to them. Armageddon pursed her lips before driving her knife into the nearest walker skull. She did this to three more, but knew that if help didn't come soon, they would get overrun. She heard Beth singing to Von, trying her best to calm the baby down, but nothing worked as she was too scared to be calm.

Daryl, Glenn and Rick finally showed and started taking down the walkers around. "What the hell happened?" Rick exclaimed.

Daryl got rid of the walkers by the cage before storming inside. He took Von from Beth and hugged her tightly, shushing her and patting her on the back gently as Glenn and Rick took down the rest of the nearby walkers. "You okay?" He asked Armageddon and put his free arm around her.

"Yeah, just a little shook" She answered under her breath and hugged him. "Von's in worse shape than me."

Daryl met her eyes before looking down to his child and kissing her on her forehead, before handing her back to Beth. "The gate's been breached, come on" He said and grabbed her hand.

"What?" She said as she let him drag her off.

"The lock's been cut off, by an ax or somethin" Glenn informed her.

"Fuck! Is the cell block breached too?"

"We don't know" Glenn told her and look at Rick, who was glaring at the prisoners. "You think they did it?"

"Who else?"

He had just answered when a loud siren sounded off, the kind that would sound off if a prisoner tried to escape before the apocalypse. "You gotta be kidding me!" Daryl exclaimed angrily. Rick and Glenn shot at the speakers, hoping it would shut off, but that was a failed attempt.

"How the hell can this be happening?" Rick shouted at the prisoners, who hesitantly approached them.

"I don't know! It has to be the backup generators" The African-American answered and threw his hands up in the air as Rick pointed a gun at him.

"Okay, how do you turn these off?"

The man answered and seemed so sure that the generators had all shut down when the prison was shut down. He told them that he had worked in the place that powered the generators and that he could shut them off if he could get to them. That was enough for Rick and he told him to lead the way.

There were almost ten walkers inside of their cell block and no living person in there. "Somebody is playing games with us!" Rick exclaimed at the top of his lungs exasperated. "We'll split up and look for the others. But first we gotta get to those generators and shut them down!"

They finally got to the generators, with half a dozen walkers after them. The African-American, Oscar, finally managed to turn everything off and just when everything seemed to be doing better, a man jumped out of nowhere with a machete and swung it at Rick's head, who dodged it immediately. It was another African-American, the shortest of the three she had seen. She would have helped Rick as the guy attacked him, but she and Daryl were too busy holding the doors shut to do anything else.

"Armageddon" Daryl grunted under his breath. Their eyes met for a few seconds before he looked down to the gun tucked in his pants before looking back at her. "Take it."

He left her no time to react as he reached for his crossbow and got ready to face the upcoming walkers. She did what he told her to, got his gun and did the same before the doors swung open and they all came charging at them. There were four and the two of them handled them easily before they shut the doors once more. "Stop!" Armageddon yelled out to the crazed inmate who was still going at Rick and pointed her gun at him.

She was about to shoot when Oscar threw a large barrel at the inmate's head, immobilizing him. He took up Rick's gun, that lay near him on the ground and pointed it forwards. Armageddon turned to him and was ready to start shooting if he would. "Shoot him!" The inmate yelled out. "We can take back this prison."

Rick stared at him with wide eyes and hands up in the air, mentally begging him not to shoot. "Drop the gun!" Armageddon yelled out.

The next thing she knew, he cocked the gun and fired. Rick still stood on his feet, much to her surprise, and the inmate was on the ground with his brains on the wall behind him. Then, Oscar slowly stepped forward and handed Rick his gun back, showing everyone inside which side he was on. Daryl stood nearby with a knife in his hands, ready to pounce if he was given the chance, but Oscar proved himself worthy.

Rick took the gun from him and nodded curtly. "Let's go."

The way back was scary and intense, they stumbled upon a couple of walkers feasting on a body that turned out to be T-Dog's, but they ultimately made it back to cell block C. Everyone was there waiting for them, except for Lori, Maggie, Carol and Carl. That wasn't the first thing on Daryl or Armageddon's minds when they came in, the only thing that they thought about was Von, who was still crying in Beth's hands. Armageddon took her and Daryl stood close by the two of them, comforting her as best as he could. "It's okay, baby, everything's fine now. You're safe."

Rick was about to start commanding people to go back and look for the rest when they heard a cry of a baby. Von had settled down and fallen asleep in Armageddon's arms, which only meant one thing. When they turned around, they saw Maggie and Carl making their way towards them, with a baby in Maggie's bloody hands, but no Lori in sight. The way Maggie burst into tears when she met Rick's eyes told him everything he needed to know. His knees gave out and he buried his face in his hands as tears started streaming down his face. He screamed and yelled and cursed and sobbed as he took the news that his wife was dead. Armageddon's vision blurred and she buried her face in Daryl's chest as a sob escaped her throat. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, stifling a sob. 

" _Take it easy with me please. Touch me gently, like a summer evening breeze. Take your time. Make it slow. Andante, andante and just let the feeling grow_ " Armageddon sang quietly as she prepared Von to go to sleep. It had been a really tough day that had taken its toll on everyone and she hoped that when her daughter finally fell asleep, she would do it peacefully and dream of something nice. That was why she decided to sing her favorite Abba song to her, in hopes to lighten her spirit, if not just a little. " _Make your fingers, soft and light. Let your body be the velvet of the night. Touch my soul, you know how. Andante, andante, go slowly with me now_."

They were in their cell and she was pacing slowly around it as she sang to her daughter. Daryl appeared in the doorway and met her eyes right before she continued. " _I'm your music, I'm your song. Play me time and time again, and make me strong. Make me sing, make me sound. Andante, andante, tread lightly on my ground. Andante, andante, oh please, don't let me down_."

"That was beautiful" He said quietly when she finished.

"Thank you" She whispered and a small smile tugged on her lips as she looked from him and to her sleeping daughter. She put her down on the cot before turning back to Daryl. They both opened their mouths, but she beat him to it. "We almost died today."

"Yeah."

She pursed her lips before leaning in closer to him, so that their faces were almost touching. She put her hands on his cheeks and stared deeply into his eyes before she erupted the space between them and let their lips touched. She had done this slowly and hesitantly, yet still, Daryl seemed surprised and didn't kiss her back until thirty seconds later. She exhaled deeply as she backed away and met his eyes again. "Why'd you do that?" He asked under his breath.

"Because we almost died" She answered and stepped closer to him.

Instead of getting the chance to say more, he reached down and grabbed her hands before taking a step towards her and kissing her. His lips brushed softly against hers before she confidently pressed her lips against his and wrapped her arms around him.


	35. The Green Mile

The Green Mile

"Armageddon, do you have a minute?" Hershel asked and knocked on the concrete wall beside the cell where she was nursing Von.

She looked up and met his eyes before nodding. "Sure, what's up?"

"I need you to do me a favor" He said as he made his way towards her, where she sat on her cot. He sat down beside her and sighed, putting his hands on his knees and seemed to be pretty tired. He met her eyes and she could see his lips were pursed behind his milky-white beard that matched his growing hair. "I need you to talk to Rick. I'm worried about him."

"He just lost his wife, he's grieving" She said and shrugged casually. "Everyone needs time to grieve and since he's the leader, it's only understandable that he wants to do that in peace."

"No, you don't understand" He said and stopped her before she continued. "I paid him a visit in the boiler room and he seemed... off. He told me he received a phone call."

"A phone call?" She repeated with furrowed brows.

"Yes" He nodded. "He had a phone around, but it wasn't plugged or working. I think he's losing control of himself and I need you to talk him back."

"I don't think I'm the person he'd like to talk to at the moment" She said and shook her head before taking her baby off her breast and fixing the shirt she was wearing.

"No, but you're the only one who can" Hershel insisted. "You helped Beth in her crisis and I've been told you've helped others as well."

"I'm not a shrink, Hershel" She told him despairingly. "I never was. I was a political party planner. I didn't even take my Bachelor's in psychology. I barely did a stint of it in college before I started pursuing other things. I know the utter basics and I'm a good listener, but I can't help restore sanity. I only helped Beth because I had been in a similar situation myself and know how to deal with it through my own experiences."

"Please, Armageddon" He said and stared deeply into her eyes. "You're the only one we have."

A few minutes later Armageddon found herself walking around the empty prison, slowly making her way towards the boiling room. She had accepted the plea to go talk to Rick, but she made no promises that she could help or fix anything. She left Von with Beth and Hershel, who promised to take care of her while she was gone and Daryl was out exploring the prison, grieving as well as he had also lost someone dear to him. Carol. He had really come to care for her and he had taken the news worse than anyone else that she had lost her life.

"Rick?" Armageddon called out softly and knocked on the boiler room door before entering. She found him sitting on the floor, staring at a certain spot in front of him, blood soaked nearly from head to toe. He did not respond and pretended like he didn't notice her. "It's me, Armageddon."

He barely glanced at her. "How are you feeling?" She asked softly and regretted her words instantly as she made her way towards him. When he did not answer, she decided to go on. "That was stupid of me to ask, I'm sorry," She said and sat down on a nearby chair. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Did Hershel send you?" He asked her.

"Yes, he did."

He sighed, but kept his eyes fixated on that damn spot. "He's worried about you, we all are" She told him sincerely. "Look, I can't even fathom what you're going through, you lost your wife, but you can't just bury that under a ton of rocks and distance yourself from the others. It's understandable that you'd like to have some peace and quiet, but Carl's all alone as is. He needs you."

"Your baby does too," She continued when he remained quiet. "She needs a father and that's one thing that Carl can't be to her. No one can except you."

"Shane's the father" He told her quietly.

"You don't know that."

"I do" He insisted and finally met her eyes. His eyes shone with dismay and hopelessness.

"Maybe he is" She agreed and shrugged. "Who knows whose biological father that girl's is, all that matters is who will step in and be a real Dad, and that has to be you."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

"Why?"

"Because she will always be Lori's daughter and Carl's sister. She may or may not have your blood, but she doesn't have to know that. Hershel or Glenn or Daryl can't just take her in and raise her as their own all the while telling her that Carl, _your_ son, is her brother as well. It wouldn't make any sense" She argued and he disrupted their eye contact just to look back to the stain on the floor. It was dark, grayish and formed a small circle, the size of an eye. She sighed and felt doubtful that her words would go through to him, but she had promised to try, so she continued. "Look, you don't have to go now and take back your role as the White Knight. You don't even have to resume that or any other role. Take your time for God's sake and try to feel better. Don't return for us, return for your children. They are the ones who really need you."

"How'd it go?" Hershel asked when she returned. Armageddon shrugged and nibbled on her lower lip before taking Von out of Beth's embrace.

"Like I said, he's grieving" She said and pursed her lips. "He's gonna need time, but he'll come around."

Armageddon had been walking around the prison yard, aimlessly walking and, when she felt like it, took down a walker or two that tried to get to her through the gates. She was lost in her own world, reliving old times when she was with her two husbands and how happy they had been in before everything went to shit. It still hurt to think about them, but she had accepted the fact that they were gone and that all she had left of them was memories. It was all she had and sometimes, on gloomy days, she distanced herself from the others to wallow and reminisce about the good times, if only to get a small dosage of short-lived happiness.

There weren't that many walkers out today and she told herself that was a good sign. The place was quiet, the air was calm and there was no need to be constantly on the run. They had secured themselves a place to live and that was great, as she knew no one could have handled anything that happened the last few days if they were still on the road. The group would collapse and she would too, most likely.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a voice that sounded off among the walkers. "Hey." She looked around rapidly, searching for the caller before her eyes fell upon a dark-skinned woman with dreads and a katana hanging off her back. She carried a red shopping basket filled with baby supplies, much to Armageddon's confusion. Her skin was bloody, so were her clothes, but her eyes weren't milky white and dead and the dark skin remained dark and not gray and rotted. It was a human.

Armageddon furrowed her brows and stared at her aghast, before her attention was turned elsewhere when she heard footprints near her. It was Rick. He stopped by the inner fence, blocked, and just stared at her. Armageddon expected him to say something, ask the stranger why she was there and how she got there, but he never said a word. She grunted in pain and Armageddon noticed that her leg was bleeding. A nearby walker growled at her and soon her disguise was done with as they came at her. Armageddon let her instincts take over and started hounding on the gate, drawing attention to her before killing the nearest walkers. It wasn't enough, though, as more walkers were coming and they were coming for the stranger.

"Should we help her?" Carl called out.

Rick didn't answer, so Armageddon did. "Yeah, open the gates, I'm going out there" She called out before running towards the gates that kept them inside and unwanted company out.

"Wait!" Rick shouted and she heard him run over to her, but she didn't give him a chance to catch up until they were at the gates.

The stranger collapsed right by the gate, so Armageddon raced out there and got Rick's help with carrying her in, despite his previous attempts to stop her. Carl went ahead and got rid of the walkers before taking the basket and hurrying after them.

The reason how she had come was because she had overheard Glenn and Maggie talking about the prison right before they were taken by a group of strangers, leaving their all their stuff behind. She hadn't explained why, and frankly, few people cared as they were glad to have supplies and to have gotten the news. She told them about the town, Woodbury, and that it was run by some pretty-boy dictator, and by the sound of her tone while she spoke about him, it sounded like she really loathed the guy.

However, while Armageddon and Rick were rescuing her from walkers, Daryl had found Carol near-unconscious, locked away in solitary confinement. She had no bite- or scratch-marks and seemed to be in good shape, despite dehydration and seeing a close friend get taken down.

"How do we know we can trust her?" Oscar asked as the group gathered around to discuss what they were going to do.

"This is Maggie and Glenn" Beth insisted.

"I'll go after them" Daryl said.

"This place sounds pretty secure, you can't go alone" Rick told him somberly.

"I'll come with you" Armageddon said and directed her words to Daryl.

"No, you should stay here with Von, in case anythin' happens" Daryl said and shook his head at her.

"How about you stay with Von while I go out?" She retorted and felt annoyance boiling inside her as he always brushed her off his shoulder and told her to go babysit whenever she offered a helping hand.

"I'll go" Beth said and stopped Daryl and Armageddon before they could start arguing about this.

"Me too" Axel said and soon Oscar volunteered as well.

Daryl pulled Armageddon aside as she was prepping to go out with the others and he made sure they were out of hearing distance. "Don't do this" He begged. "If somethin' happened-"

"I'd be left all alone with her."

"At least she would have someone" He argued.

"Why are you so intent on going out on all these missions?" She asked him and shook her head. "Do you regret making that promise to me? Are you trying to get away so you won't have to deal with us anymore?"

"No!" He exclaimed and looked offended by what she had said. "I protected you! Took care of you all through winter! Gave you everything I could that you asked for and made sure you and Von were all right and then you say I don't want her anymore?" He furrowed his brows at her as if he couldn't believe her.

"I'm thankful for what you've done, but it seems like lately-" Armageddon started and was interrupted by him.

"I'm trying to protect you! You and the others. Von is my first priority, but that don't mean that the others don't matter. Glenn and Maggie were taken and you expect me to sit here on my ass and pray?"

"You expect me to?" She exclaimed and grew more and more furious by the minute. She was so frustrated to hear him say all of that, how he cared about the group and wanted to keep everyone safe by going after them and not staying behind, but then he expected her to do the opposite even though he knew she felt the same way.

"I expect you to be a mother."

That threw her off the edge. She slapped him hard on the cheek instinctively and fought the urge to do it again as her hand started to sting. His cheek reddened and she could see anger in his eyes before he turned away and headed back to the group.

"Everything okay?" Rick asked as he saw them coming back. It wouldn't have surprised Armageddon if the group had heard what had gone on between them or even seen the slap, but she didn't care. Not at that moment.

"Fine" Daryl grunted before getting into the awaiting car.

"Armageddon," Rick said and stopped her before she could do the same. "I need you to do something for me."

By the way he said those words made her face lose all color. "Don't say it" She pleaded. "Don't make me stay behind."

"The car is full and I need someone to watch the others" He told her before leaning in closer and lowering his voice. "Someone strong. Whatever happens, you need to be there for them. You're the real leader, they need you."

His words, although had great intentions, did not mean shit to her. She just pursed her lips and kept quiet, staring him down until he eventually turned around and headed to the car. Armageddon curled her hands into fists and stormed out of the courtyard, knowing if she would have stayed there any longer, she would have punched someone.

The cell block was terribly quiet after half the group left. Now, the only ones left behind were the weak; the old, the young and the ones who weren't the best at protecting themselves. And Armageddon. She knew that Rick had been telling the truth and that he had wanted her to stay behind to look after the others, but it still felt like she was being treated like the others, the ones who couldn't protect themselves.

"Don't take this so personally" Hershel said to her. "Rick wanted you to stay here because we need someone here if anything were to go south with their mission."

"I know" She grunted and refused to meet his eyes.

"This is not because of Daryl or because you have a baby-"

"I know" She said again, interrupting him before meeting his wise eyes. "I know why I was supposed to stay, I'm not sulking over it."

"But, there is something bothering you, I can tell."

She sighed. "I'm worried about Daryl" She admitted and looked away. "Every time he goes out there, to scavenge or hunt or anything, all I can think of is that he's gonna end up getting bit and I'm gonna be all alone in this world." She stopped and looked at Von, who was sleeping soundly in her cot. "And she'd be left fatherless."

"It's hard, I know" He said sympathetically and put his hand on her shoulder. "I feel the same way when Maggie goes out. But, you've got to find it in yourself to trust that he'll come back. He always does and he always will. He loves you, both of you, and I know he'll do anything he can for you two."

"I know" Armageddon nodded and met his eyes once more.

A scream erupted from the other side of the prison a couple of hours after dark. She found Hershel, Carl and Beth talking about what they should do at the bottom of the stairs. "I'm gonna go and check on that" She told them as she descended the stairs.

"I'll come with you" Carl said and jumped to his feet.

"No, you need to stay here."

"You both need to stay here" Hershel said and stopped the both of them.

Armageddon turned to him and shot him a look. "Rick left me in charge and as the leader, I am asking all of you to stay here, be calm and lock the gates behind me."

"Are you sure about this? We don't know how many are out there or even what's going on."

"All I know is that whoever is screaming is being very loud and will only attract more threat right to us" She told him soberly. "Now, normally I would stay behind and wait things through, but there are two infants here who are completely helpless that need to be protected at all times. That means, no walkers or any other kind of threat anywhere near."

"I'm going with you" Carl insisted and followed her as she approached the bars that closed the cell block from everything else.

"No, I can't let you do that."

"You can't stop me either" He told her in a matter of fact tone and she realized that he was just as stubborn as she.

"Fine, but we stay in formation the entire time. It's dark out there and we don't need to split up, not for one second" She told him direly, looking him straight in the eyes and mentally asking if he really wanted to go. His answer was a nod and by that, the two of them left.

The screams only increased as they went further into the dark, abandoned prison. They hadn't encountered any walkers just yet, but Armageddon made Carl promise to let her handle the walkers as gun shots, no matter if they were silenced, would only attract more and were a waste of precious ammo.

They took a turn to the boiler room and found four people and a hell of a lot of walkers inside. Their first instincts was to take out the walkers and then talk to the strangers, ask them why they were there and how, and that was exactly what they did.

"Who the hell are you?" Armageddon asked when the last walker fell dead to the ground and all eyes went on her and Carl.

Carl interrupted them before they could say a word. "Come on, hurry!" He yelled out as more walkers filed in.

Armageddon hated the idea of those people coming with them to the cell block, but she couldn't stop Carl, who led them right to it. _I knew it was a bad idea letting him come with me_. One of the people had been bit and could barely walk, let alone run, but the people were intent on taking her with them. "You have to leave her!" Carl insisted.

"No way!"

"We're not letting a bitten person in" Armageddon told them as Carl was about to lead them to where everyone awaited. They were in the connection between the dark halls and their own cell block, both of which were locked by gated.

"I think she's dead" One of them said and lay her down on the floor.

"I'll take care of it" Carl said and aimed his gun at the woman.

"Whoa! Kid, wait a minute" One of them, an African-American man with a beanie and a thick beard said and stopped him.

"She doesn't have that long."

"Who the hell are you? How'd you get in here?" Another one of them said, an African-American woman who looked to be the sister of the man.

"We can help you-" Carl said but was stopped by Armageddon, who raised her hand at him before looking over to the frightened little group.

"Who are _you_ and how the hell did you get in here?" She asked calmly and reached for a pistol that was tucked in her pants from behind.

"Do you live here?" The woman asked her.

"You're not the ones who get to ask the questions" Armageddon said and took out her gun. "Now, I'mma ask you one more time."

"The name's Tyreese" The man said quickly and met her eyes. "That's my sister, Sasha, and those are Donna, Ben and Allen. We were wondering out in the woods when we found this prison and hoped we could find refuge here."

"You dangerous?" She asked and raised a brow.

"No."

"Are you?" A teenager, Ben, asked her.

"I am when my people are threatened" She answered in a matter of fact tone. "Right now, I don't care, but that woman's got to be taken care of and soon or else my group will be threatened."

"We take care of our own" Tyreese said and stopped her as she was about to aim her gun at the dead woman. Allen and Ben objected Tyreese when he took out his hammer, but ultimately they let him bash her brains in.

Armageddon turned to Carl and grabbed his shoulder before leaning in close. "Get inside, put Judith upstairs with Von and stay with them while I handle this" She whispered to him. She did not want those people to know they had babies in there because that would deem them vulnerable. She had learned that one of the most vital things to surviving in the apocalypse was to never seem vulnerable. He nodded and left, locking the gates behind him.

Sasha noticed what he did and tried to follow him. "Hey! What are you doing?" She asked before turning to Armageddon. "What's happening?"

"This is as far as we're gonna let you in for the time being" She told her. "We don't know you and you don't know us, so it's fair since both sides of this cage is locked. You'll be just as safe in here as they are in there."

Sasha took one look at her before walking over to the gate. "Open this door" She commanded and grabbed the bar.

"I can't" Carl told her indifferently.

"We're not animals, don't do this" She said before looking back to Armageddon with pleading eyes.

"You have food and water here" Armageddon told them.

"Why are you in here with us?" Tyreese asked and furrowed his brows at her.

"'Cause I've got some questions to ask."

"Now's not the time, just let us in through that door and-" Sasha started.

"Do you want to stay here or not?" Armageddon asked and arched her brows at them. "'Cause if you don't, you are free to leave, but I wouldn't suggest it right away since the halls are filled with an unknown number of walkers."

"What do you want to know?"

"Have you ever killed the living?"

Tyreese stared at her wide eyed and Sasha scoffed.

"It's a serious question" Armageddon told them when she got no answer.

"No, of course not!" Sasha answered.

"Never killed anyone but the dead" Tyreese told her.

"What did you do before the apocalypse?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sasha asked dubiously and furrowed her brows at her.

"I'm evaluating what kind of people you were before everything" Armageddon answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Ex NFL player" Tyreese answered. "Sasha was a firefighter. Look, we don't want any trouble. We've been on the road for weeks and this is the best place we've had since then. Thank you for letting us stay in here, but can we continue this later as we have things to deal with and talk through?"

Armageddon nodded and flashed Carl a look. She went into their cell block and locked the gate behind her, keeping the newcomers out. "Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asked Armageddon as she came inside.

"We already have."°

Hershel stitched up Allen's busted leg and Axel gave them some food. Armageddon stayed close by and tried to evaluate those people as much as she could just by watching them. They were cautious, but polite and grateful for the aid. Sasha was curious about almost everything and when Beth brought Judith, Rick and Lori's baby, forth to give her to drink, she came too close to that baby, in Armageddon's opinion. She had made Beth keep Von out of sight as she felt them knowing they only had one baby - one vulnerability - was enough. She checked up on her daughter once in a while, but did not like not having her eye on the strangers for too long. Von slept soundly so there was no worry about her.

Just when she felt like her people were being too friendly to the strangers, Hershel finally announced to them that they should not get too comfortable there. Their group was close-knit and had a hard time on trusting new people - Armageddon being a good example of that.

"We wouldn't be a problem" Tyreese promised him.

Hershel looked from him and to Armageddon, who narrowed her eyes. Tyreese followed his gaze and met her eyes. "Like he said, don't get your hopes up too high" She told him nonchalantly.

"Please, you can see what kind of people we are."

Her only answer was pursing her lips before going back to the cell block and locking the gates behind her.

Rick and the others returned a couple of hours later and the first thing that Armageddon noticed as everyone filed out of the car was that there was no Daryl. "Where's Daryl?" She asked and quickened her pace, hurrying to the car, hoping maybe he was the last one out. He wasn't. He wasn't there.

"He didn't come with us" Glenn answered and frowned. He was in terrible condition; he had a black eye, cuts all over his face and a swollen lip.

"What do you mean he didn't come with you?" She asked and furrowed her brows at him, her anxiety growing tenfold and her mind immediately went over the worst-case scenarios.

"Armageddon!" Rick called out and captured her attention. "We need to talk."

"Talk about what? Where's Daryl?" She asked and ran over to him, meeting him halfway as he approached her.

"Merle was in Woodbury. He helped us escape but we wouldn't let him come with us so Daryl left with him."

"What?" She gasped and couldn't make sense of anything he said. There were so many new and shocking information that she was sure he was fibbing. "Tell me what happened. Tell me the whole fucking story."


	36. On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront

The story was that Glenn and Maggie had been taken prisoners at Woodbury and they were tortured for information about where they were staying by Merle and some man who called himself the Governor. When Rick and the gang found them, there had been chaos and ultimately helped Merle them escape, switching sides and went with them away from Woodbury. When Rick made it clear that he wasn't joining them to the prison, however, Daryl announced that he would not leave his brother behind. Not again. Not ever. Armageddon understood that, she really understood why he had done that, but what broke her heart was that it meant he was leaving her and Von. He abandoned them and he was probably never going to come back.

She was too frustrated to cry, and when she was offered comfort by him and the others, she pushed them all away and stormed back into the prison with only one thing in mind. She was going to pack her necessities, get Von and find Daryl. They had already had a conversation where they both came to terms that he would always be by her side and vice versa and she was determined to make it stay that way. She knew he had not abandoned her willingly and that, even though he wouldn't be happy when she would find them, he would not make her leave. She knew he wanted to keep her and Von safe, which meant staying at the prison, but Rick had said it himself that Glenn and Maggie had told the Governor about their whereabouts, so they were no longer safe at the prison.

"What are you doing?" Hershel asked her when she was in the middle of throwing clothes into her bag.

"I'm leaving" She grunted and barely glanced at him.

"To go where?"

"Find Daryl."

"By yourself?"

"No" She said and finally stopped before meeting his eyes. "Von's coming with me."

"You think that's a good idea?" He asked and raised a bushy, white brow at her.

"Yes, I think so" She nodded. "And my opinion is the only one that matters to me and my baby, so don't try to convince me otherwise."

Hershel realized that Armageddon's mind had been made and that no one was going to change it. She and Von were leaving the prison.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Rick asked and got in her way when he saw her walking towards the exit of the cell block. She had two bags on her back, held her child with one hand while the other held a gun.

"I'm gonna go find Daryl" She told him.

"He's not coming back without Merle" She heard Glenn say.

She looked over his shoulder and met his eyes. "I know."

His face dropped and she could feel all eyes on her. "You're leaving? You can't be serious!"

Von could sense the tension forming in the air and started crying. "Yep" She answered before turning to Rick. "You best get outta my way unless you want to end up with a broken nose."

"I can't let you leave" He told her. "It's not safe out there. Not for Von."

"Don't tell me what to do with my child" She snapped, making Von cry even louder. She had to raise her voice so her words could be overheard through all the crying. "Her father is out there and I need to get to him! I can't let her grow up fatherless. She deserves Daryl."

"You want her around Merle?" He asked and arched his brows at her.

"Of course, I do!" She exclaimed. "He's her uncle, why wouldn't I?"

"He's dangerous" Glenn chimed in.

"Not to me" She told him. "Not to his kin. I know Merle better than any of you, so don't try to convince me otherwise."

"Why would you say all of that? Don't you remember how he treated you back at Atlanta?" Glenn exclaimed shocked.

Armageddon turned around and met his eyes. "Do you remember how _you_ treated him in Atlanta?" She asked coldly and raised her brows before meeting Rick's eyes again. "Handcuffing him to the roof of a building that was filled with walkers. And then _you_ have the decency to deny him shelter here? You fucking hypocrite!"

Rick averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his head. "I can't let you leave" He said and looked at her. "It's gonna get dark soon and we have to prepare you with supplies and a map that will lead you to them. You can leave first thing tomorrow."

"I _can_?" She repeated and raised her voice even more, her fury boiling inside her like inferno. "I can do whatever the fuck I want, asshole!"

"I'll take you back myself to where we left them" He told her calmly. "Just, please, wait till morning. For Von's sake."

She narrowed her eyes at him before her attention was drawn to her daughter, who was still screaming her lungs out. She turned away from him and hurried back to her cell, the only place where she could get privacy. She sang to Von until she fell asleep in her arms and then Armageddon did something she hadn't done for a long time. She fished out a weathered paperback and started reading. It was the last of Dale's old detective novels. She was barely finished with one thirds of it because she got less and less time to read when they were on the road and after she had given birth, but now, having nothing else to do, she decided to try to escape to another world for a moment just to ease her mind. She could not stand the thought of Daryl out there, furthering her more and more by every passing minute and she still being in the prison, acting like nothing was happening.

Hershel knocked on her cell an hour later. "What do you want?" She asked irritated when she saw who it was.

"I need your help" He said and ambled inside. "I know I can't make you stay here and I understand why you feel the need to leave, but I'm hoping you can do me one favor before you do." He said this all the while making his way to the cot and sitting down.

"Depends on what that is" She said in a matter of fact tone and closed the book she was reading.

"I need you to talk to Rick."

"Again? Let the man just grieve in peace."

"This is not grieving, he's starting to hallucinate" He told her and seemed worried. "He needs to come and rest, but he won't listen to me."

"He won't listen to me either."

"He did the last time."

"No, I think he came back not because of what I had said to him, but because he came to his senses" She told him and put the novel away. "Just like he will later, he just needs time."

"It's not safe for him to be out wandering these woods, dehydrated and sleep-deprived" Hershel argued.

"You're absolutely right" Armageddon agreed and nodded. "But, what can I do if he won't listen?"

"Keep an eye on him" He suggested. "I'll stay here with Von, while you go and make sure he doesn't get himself killed out there."

Armageddon did not really like that plan as she knew Rick was too old to need a babysitter, but by the looks of how apprehensive Hershel looked and sounded, she reluctantly said yes and promised she would keep an eye out.

She had just gone outside and was making her way past Carol and Axel, when suddenly a gun fire sounded off and Axel fell dead to the ground with a bullet in between his eyes. She dropped down to the ground before running as fast as she could to the nearest wall to hide behind as she gathered her wits and loaded the pistol she had tucked in her pants. Carl and Beth soon joined her and she wished they could get inside where it was safe instead of staying out here to fight with the others. She knew, though, that there was no convincing Carl to go to safety.

She found a person in one of the guard towers shooting at them so she and Carl made it their mission to take that son of a bitch down. Maggie came running to them and handed the three of them loaded machine guns with scopes that increased their skills by tenfold.

Everyone stopped when a car started to make its way to the prison. It was a white and orange van that went charging full speed at the front gates and did not stop until it was in the middle of the prison yard. Then a door in the back opened up and a dozen walkers came filing out, all hungry for fresh meat. A woman wearing a full-body armored suit came running out of the car, shooting a pistol at every living being she saw. As she finished her shots and was loading the gun, Armageddon took it as her chance and charged at her. She jumped her and threw the gun away before pinning her arms down to the ground.

"What the fuck do you want from us?" She screamed out at the top of her lungs. She was well aware that there were walkers approaching the two of them, by the way the woman squirmed underneath her, but she was not going to let her go until she got some answers. "Why are you attacking?"

"You attacked us first!" She screamed out and thrashed around on the ground.

"We did not!"

"Yes, you fucking did!"

"Did we attack your home and kill your people?" Armageddon yelled out and could not believe that could be true. She did not wait for an answer as a walker appeared from behind her and she rolled off the woman and hurried away. She did not feel bad for her as two or three walkers started feasting on her, as she had attacked her home and her people, but she was still shocked by what she had learnt.

Maggie finally took down the person in the guard tower and the other people that were shooting at them soon ceased fire and hurried away, leaving their group to deal with the two or three dozen walkers that were all coming for them. She saw Hershel on the ground, shooting at a herd of walkers that slowly approached him and decided that would be her mission; take down those walkers and get him to safety.

Glenn came driving towards them with Michonne hurrying after him and picked up Hershel, taking him to the car, while she and Michonne fended off the walkers. "Come on!" Glenn called out.

"We gotta take them all out!" Armageddon yelled back.

"There's too many of them" Michonne grunted as she removed her katana from a dead walker's head. "Come on." She grabbed her hand and led her to the car where the two men awaited them. Armageddon rolled down the window as they headed towards the prison entrance and fired the rest of her bullets into the nearest walkers.

Carl and Carol closed and locked the inner gates after they came driving through and finally got them to safety. The walkers had not managed to get so far, but they had sadly taken over the prison yard and limited their free space. Everyone from the group was there except for Rick, who was outside the gates, trying his best to fend for himself with two other men; Daryl and Merle.

Armageddon had never felt as happy or relieved when she saw him there, fighting off walkers and making his way to them. Well, she felt even happier when he made it in. The first thing he did was run to her and wrap his arms as tightly around her as he could. Tears welled up in her unwilling eyes and she fought a cackle in her throat. "I was gonna go find you" She told him and met his eyes, with tears running down hers.

He ran his thumb across her cheeks and wiped them away. "I'm here."

"I'm so fucking glad you are!" She said and a sob escaped her throat. She buried her face in his shoulder and drew a deep breath, gathering her wits as she didn't want to let the others see her crying. She looked up and met his eyes again, a shadow crossing her face. "You were just going to leave me and Von behind."

"I knew you'd come for me" He told her.

Her answer was a scoff, but instead of arguing about it, she grabbed his face and kissed him. It was the same kind of kiss as they had had the day before; relief to be alive and together. This time, he immediately kissed her back and did not hesitate.

"Hello to you too, Armageddon" Merle said and disrupted their moment together. Armageddon broke away from Daryl and could not believe her eyes, even though she had heard that he was alive.

"Merle fuckin' Dixon" She said and a bright smile entered her lips as she approached him with her arms bathed out. She embraced him and he hugged her back after a few moments, surprised that that was her reaction considering how their relationship was before. "You're still alive."

"You need to do better than handcuff me to a fuckin' roof to kill me" He told her with a chuckle and let go of her. "You look good, just as beautiful as you were when I last saw you."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. _Still trying to get in my pants, despite everything_. "No, I mean it" He continued and his tone turned sincere. "Motherhood really suits you."

"Everyone inside!" Rick yelled out, interrupting their moment. "Now!"

Merle was locked in the connection between the cell block and the rest of the prison, the same place where Tyreese and the gang were before they were sent away, because Rick and the others didn't feel safe having him wandering around freely in the cell block. Armageddon stayed with him in the connection while Daryl went to get Von, who sure as hell would not like to be left alone for one more second.

Daryl came back with the baby, who had now woken up and was going to hand her to Armageddon when Merle noticed her. "Is that her?" He said and a bright smile entered his face.

"Yep, that's Von" Armageddon answered and a smile tugged on her lips.

"Von? What kinda name is that?" He asked and furrowed his brows at her.

"It's Icelandic for hope" Daryl told him in a matter of fact tone. Merle's disapproving look disappeared and was replaced with a smile once more as he looked back down to the baby in Daryl's hands.

"Can I hold her?" He asked and looked from the baby to his brother and then to Armageddon.

Daryl also looked at Armageddon, as if she had the final say in things. "Yeah, go ahead" She said. "You sure you can manage with one hand, though?" She asked and looked at the make-shift stump on Merle's left hand that was covered with some plastic material that he could stick a knife in to fend away walkers. There was no knife now, thank god.

"I think I can manage just fine" He said and took Von out of his brother's hands. "Hey, there, little one" He said softly as he held her and smiled even wider. Von squealed and smiled back at him. He chuckled and looked from her and to her parents. "I think she likes me."

Von had always been good with everyone in the group, but she seemed to have taken a big liking on Merle the second she was handed to him. "She's got the Dixon eyes" He reflected and looked to Daryl and Armageddon.

"Yeah, she does" She answered with a smile on her lips.

"She's so beautiful" He said in a dreamy voice as he stared down at her. "She's gonna be just like her mother, I know it; a fierce bitch who'll break every boys' heart."

"We're not leaving" Rick said the next morning.

"What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds" Maggie argued.

"We can't even go outside" Beth said.

"In the daylight" Carol chimed in.

"If Rick says we're not running, we're not running" Glenn said.

"No, better to live like rats" Merle said and shifted everyone's attention to him.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah, we should've slid outta here last night. Live to fight another day."

"What do you think?" Daryl whispered to Armageddon.

"After what happened yesterday, I'm not so sure I want Von to stay here" She told him candidly and met his eyes. "I know this is the safest place out there, we should know, we were on the road for so long, but maybe that's safer than being here."

"Yeah" He agreed.

"But, I don't want to leave them to fend for themselves."

"No, me neither" He told her. She pursed her lips and looked from him and to the rest of the group.

"We lost that window now, didn't we?" Merle continued. "I'm sure he's got scouts lookin' for us on every road now."

"Fuck" Rick mumbled under his breath.

"Rick, I got a hold of the woman driving that truck full of walkers yesterday and she said we had attacked them" Armageddon spoke up and got everyone's attention. "Is that true? Did we do just like they did to us yesterday?"

"No, we didn't attack everyone. We just came for Maggie and Glenn."

"Keep tellin' yourself that" Merle said.

"Shut up!"

"There was a shoot out" Daryl told her. "I don't know how many we killed, but the objective was to rescue, not kill."

"But you did so anyway?" She asked and looked from him and to Rick.

"We had no other choice" Rick told her.

"Why didn't you go over there to negotiate?"

"Because that psycho just took us from the road, locked us away before beating the shit out of me to find out where the prison was!" Glenn snapped and pointed at Merle.

Armageddon's eyes narrowed and she looked at Merle before walking down the stairs and approaching them. "That true?" She asked and raised her brows at him. He was at a loss for words by the way she looked at him. "Why did you take them? Was it for your selfish reasons or something else?"

"A bit of both" He answered quietly and did not seem too ashamed of himself. Armageddon cocked a brow at him and waited for him to continue, to bring reason to why he did what he did. "The Governor's a paranoid man. He doesn't want people around him to live and prosper the way Woodbury does. He's afraid they might want to take it from him."

"So, instead of figuring out a rational way to deal with things he prosecutes people for things they haven't even thought of doing?" She asked and thought of the Tom Cruise movie _Minority Report_ as she asked him that.

"Basically" He shrugged.

"So, that's why he's attacking us? He thinks we want his town?" Rick asked and approached them.

"Bear in mind that you came in shooting first" She told him in a matter of fact tone. "I don't know their weirdo, but come on, you'd have the same reaction if someone were to come and shoot up the prison unannounced."

"We don't kidnap people!"

"You're right" She said and nodded before looking at Merle and shooting him a look. She looked back at Rick and sighed. "We've got to figure out a way to solve this thing, especially if we can do it in a nonviolent way."

"You're optimistic about that, sweetheart" Merle chuckled and shook his head at her.

She ignored him and continued before Rick could object. "We've got two infants here, we can't be putting their lives at risk by going to war or going back to living on the road. Neither works and we all know that. I'm sure Woodbury has kids of their own that they don't want to put in danger, so there must be a way to compromise."

"We can't just say sorry and be done with things, we're not children" Rick told her.

"He's right. The Governor's got a grudge now."

"Well, he's fucking got to" She insisted. "We've lost people, they've probably lost people, we're even. There's no need to be killing more people or trying to overthrow each other. We've both been put to risk and now both parties have shot at each other. This doesn't need to go back and forth because some asshole's got a grudge."

"She's right" Carol chimed in.

"You've got some fair points, but it don't matter" Merle told her and met her eyes. "The Governor's goin' to war and he's gonna come back here until every one of us is dead. He doesn't care if he loses more men, he just wants to take y'all down."

Armageddon pursed her lips and thought things through before meeting his eyes again. "Do you think his men would carry out his wishes if he were to suddenly die?"

A grin spread on his face before he chuckled. "Turned to the dark side, have ya, sweetheart?"

"Daryl and I've got a baby to take care of and I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe."

"I would too, hands down" He told her sincerely. "As her uncle, I'm the next in line to take care of her if you two were to die so I gotta keep a close eye on her and on you."

"Would they?"

"Depends" He shrugged.

"On what?"

"On how he dies. They will avenge him if they know it's you, but if it would be an accident, then maybe..." He said and shrugged again. "That shit with the truck, that was just ringin' the doorbell. You may have thick walls but he's got the guns and the numbers and if he takes the high ground on this place, shit, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

"But he won't?" Armageddon asked and raised a brow. "He'd much rather want a bloody fight to the death, right?"

"Right."

"Then he's gotta go."

"I say we just leave now that Axel's dead. We can't just stay here" Hershel objected. Rick turned on his heel and was about to walk away when Hershel stopped him. "Get back here!" He yelled out and got to his feet before ambling towards him. "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it and we understand why, but this isn't the time. You once said this isn't a democracy, now you have to own up to that. I put my family's lives in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

"Armageddon has a plan" Rick told him before looking to Armageddon with a look that made her pale up. He was mentally asking her to take charge and become the leader, as if she were some member of the military with years of strategizing and wars in her belt.

"I have an idea that's not even full proof" She told him and shook her head. "It's the least likely one to work, if anything."

"We'll keep it as plan B" He told her and she realized that he was going to keep his title as leader, but by the way he said those words told her that she was not entirely off the hook. That was all right, since she wanted to have a say in things, but she did not want to be a commander as she had no capability in making decisions, hence her two husbands.


	37. Open Range

Open Range

"Field's filled with walkers. I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch" Rick said and approached Daryl, Armageddon, Michonne, Hershel and Glenn, who were standing nearby.

"I'll get up in the guard tower" Daryl suggested. "Take out these walkers, while you guys fix the fence."

"Or we use some of the guards to put the bus back in place" Michonne said.

"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets" Hershel said somberly.

"So, we're trapped in here" Glenn said despairingly. "There's barely any food or ammo."

"Been here before, we'll be all right" Daryl said and shrugged casually.

"That's back when it was just us. Before there was a snake in the nest."

"Man, you wanna go through this again?" Daryl asked him and raised his brows. "Look, Merle's stayin' here. He's with us now. Get used to it, all y'all."

After that he stormed away and Armageddon watched him go with a frown on her face. He went to their cell and she knew he was going to tend to Von. She really wished things could be easier, that they weren't trapped inside that prison; that they weren't going to go to war with some lunatics; that more than half the group wanted Merle gone.

"Seriously, Rick, I don't think Merle living here is gonna fly" Glenn said to Rick.

"I can't kick him out!" Rick told him and sounded like he hated this as much as Glenn did.

"I wouldn't ask you to live with Shane after he tried to kill you!"

"Calm down, Glenn" Armageddon said and got in the middle of them. "No one is asking you to socialize with him-"

"That's not-"

"Let me finish" She said and stopped him. "I know him being here is tough for both you and Maggie, but saying that in front of Daryl is like telling Maggie that you don't want Beth around. I know there's a huge difference between the two, but they're still brothers and he's still Von's only living relative besides me and Daryl."

"Merle has military experience" Hershel said, chiming in. "He may be erratic, but don't underestimate his loyalty to his brother. Or to his niece." He met Armageddon's eyes. "I've seen how he is with her, he'd take down the whole world for her if he had to."

"What if we solve both problems at once?" Glenn said. "Deliver Merle to the Governor as a bargaining chip. Give him his traitor, maybe declare a truce."

"Hold up!" Armageddon said and waved her hands around. "So, you'll sell Merle out and send him to his death, and call a truce with the guy who almost raped your girlfriend? Merle deserves death in your eyes, but the Governor is all good?"

"You said it yourself, we can't go to war!" He exclaimed. "I'm ready to do anything to avoid it."

Armageddon scoffed and had enough. "Hypocrite" She said under her breath before joining Daryl upstairs in their cell. He was holding Von, humming something softly and stopped immediately when she came in. "Bunch of fuckin' hypocrites" She spat.

"I know" He mumbled and kept his eyes on his adopted daughter.

"Maybe we should just leave" She said and sat down beside him on their cot. "The four of us, just take off and get off their backs like they so desire."

"They only want Merle gone" He commented and met her eyes. "They can't lose us, Rick all but said it."

"I know, but we're a package deal" She told him in a matter of fact. He pursed his lips and nodded.

"Yeah."

Word came around that Andrea was back and that sent everyone to their feet, armed to the teeth and running outside to greet her with hostility. She was with Woodbury and Armageddon had no clue if she was there to kill them or call a truce, and she was not ready to risk her daughter's life by letting her come any closer. She knew Rick felt the exact same way with his daughter.

"Are you alone?" He called out to her as he approached her quickly.

"Open the gate!" She answered and held tightly to a tether that held a walker with no hands and no teeth in check.

"Are you alone?" He repeated.

"Rick!" She cried out.

Rick tossed the keys to Daryl, who opened the gate for her, before making her turn around and face the fence with her hands up in the air like she was under arrest. When a walker came at her from the other side of the gate, Rick threw her onto the ground and made her get on her knees, still with her hands in the air, as he searched her for any weapons. "I asked if you were alone."

"I am" She said under her breath.

"Get up" He said before leading her inside.

The first thing Andrea saw when she came inside was Beth holding a baby. Rick's baby. She turned to Armageddon with a bright smile. "She's beautiful" She told her sincerely.

"She's not mine."

Her face lost all color as she processed her words. "Did you lose it?"

"No, I had it" She told her indifferently.

"Did it... die?" She asked hesitantly.

"Nope, she's alive."

"Can I see her?"

Armageddon met Daryl's eyes and they shared a look before ignoring her question. Neither one of them liked that idea at that moment.

Carol took Andrea into her arms and embraced her when they saw each other. "After you saved me, I thought you were dead" She said quietly and her vice broke.

"Hershel, oh my god" Andrea gasped when she let Carol go and saw Hershel standing with only one leg. "I can't believe this" She said under her breath and looked around. "Where's Shane?"

Rick shook his head and looked away.

"And Lori?"

He remained silent and Hershel answered for him. "She had a girl" He said.

"Was that the baby I saw?" She asked and looked from him to Armageddon, who nodded.

"She didn't survive" Hershel continued.

"Neither did T-Dog" Maggie added.

"I'm so sorry" She said sincerely and a lone tear ran down her cheek. "Carl..." She said and she wanted to say something reassuring to him, but Carl looked away. "Rick..." She said again, but again she couldn't bring herself to say anything. "You all live here?"

"Here in the cell block" Glenn answered.

"There?" She asked and pointed towards cell block C. "Can I go in?"

"Not a chance" Armageddon answered quickly.

"I won't allow that" Rick said and got in Andrea's way as she was about to approach the cell block.

"I'm not your enemy."

"We had a field, a courtyard, until your boyfriend came and shot us all up" Rick told her in a matter of fact tone.

"He said you fired first" She said and looked confused.

Armageddon nudged Daryl before leaning in and whispering to his ear. "She really is fuckin' him."

He nodded before whispering back to her. "She ain't comin' anywhere near our baby."

"He's lying" Rick told her.

"He killed an inmate that survived in here" Hershel said.

"We liked him, he was one of us" Daryl told her.

"I didn't know anything about that" She told them all and shook her head.

"What did you know about?" Armageddon asked and furrowed her brows. "Did you know that your boyfriend was kidnapping people and torturing them? That he wants everyone surviving around him and your precious town dead? Did you know all of that?"

"No" She answered and shook her head. "I had no idea!"

"But, now you clearly do, since you come here with questions and statements about the previous attack on us" Armageddon commented and crossed her arms over her chest. "Did you sanction it? By the sound of how you said things earlier made it seem like you were a part of the planning team."

"I'm not!"

"But, you knew he was going to attack us?"

"No! I only knew that he was going to find the people that shot up Woodbury and have a talk with them."

"Some talk" Armageddon scoffed.

"I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shootout!" She said and looked from her and to everyone else.

"That was days ago" Glenn commented and frowned.

"I told you, I came as soon as I could."

She turned around and met Michonne's eyes, who did not seem very pleased to have her old friend back. "What have you told them?"

"Nothing" Michonne answered.

"I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?" She exclaimed in confusion.

"We don't take so kindly to people shacking up with the enemy" Armageddon told her in a matter of fact tone.

"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us" Glenn added.

"With his finger on the trigger!" She exclaimed and pointed at Merle. "Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" She said and ran a hand through her hair, calming herself. "Look, I cannot explain or excuse what Philip has done. But, I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"There's nothing to work out" Rick told her and shook his head. "We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."

Armageddon furrowed her brows at Rick before looking at Daryl, who refused to meet her eyes, which meant only one thing; he agreed with Rick.

"We can settle this" Andrea said rationally. "There is room in Woodbury for all of you."

Merle chuckled. "You know better than that."

"What makes you think this man wants to negotiate?" Hershel asked her and raised a brow. "Did he say that?"

"No."

"Then why did you come here?" Rick asked.

"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified, they see you guys as killers. They're training to attack!"

"I'll tell you what," Daryl said and captured her attention. "The next time you see Philip, you tell him I'mma take his other eye."

"We've taken shit for too long. If he wants a war, he's got one" Glenn told her soberly.

"Rick," Andrea said and turned to him. "If you don't sit down and figure out a solution, I don't know what's gonna happen. He's got a whole town." When Rick chose not to say anything after that, she decided to continue. "Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You wanna make this right? Get us inside" Rick said and met her eyes once more.

"No."

"Then we got nothin' more to talk about" He said and walked away from her as she tried to explain that there were innocent people inside Woodbury along with all of those psychos.

Merle knocked on the bars in Armageddon's cell before walking in. He was about to speak up when he saw her breastfeeding Von, so he quickly turned on his heel and excused himself. "Didn't know you were busy" He said quickly. "I'll come back later."

"No, it's okay, I'm just finishing" Armageddon said and didn't feel self-conscious at all. Everyone in the group had seen her breasts after Von had been born because there wasn't much privacy on the road, and now, she just didn't care. She was merely feeding her daughter, nothing sexual about that. Von's lips let go of her nipple and she burped before Armageddon fixed her T-shirt and told Merle that the coast was clear. "What's up?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you" He told her and slowly approached her. "And now, seein' Andrea back brings back old memories."

She furrowed her brows at him and wondered where he was going with that before he spoke up again. "Daryl told me, back when it was just two of us" He said bluntly, never knowing anything but getting straight to the point. "About who the real father is."

Armageddon's friendly smile dropped and a shadow crossed over her face before looking away.

"I knew Mac was bad, but I had no idea he would do something like that. To you. And how you handled it, wow. I don't think anyone could do that, be as strong as you" He said sincerely and meant every word he said. "It didn't surprise me that Daryl decided to call her his. He's always loved you. He would have killed himself for you if you asked. But, seeing how he is with her, I don't think he's ever gonna love someone as much as he loves her."

"Did you know that I killed him?" She asked him and looked from her tranquil daughter and to Merle. "Mac. We were on a farm that got overrun and he threw himself at some walkers coming after us and told me to shoot him before it got too ugly."

"He knew you were worth saving. You and the baby."

She pursed her lips and nodded. "Maybe."

"You know, if you and Daryl ever need time alone, just for yourselves, I'm always up for babysittin'" He told her. "I mean, she's an angel, but you must want some free-time, maybe to..."

She snorted before laughing and shaking her head. "Thanks, you'll be the first one I'll ask if Daryl and I need some time off."

He flashed her a smile before patting her shoulder. "Let me take her" He said and stood up. "Let her spend some quality time with uncle Merle."

"Okay, but don't take her outside" Armageddon said and handed him her daughter, who squealed in happiness when she was handed to her beloved uncle. "Never know what's out there."

"I know" He said before turning on his heel in the doorway of the cell. "Say bye-bye to Mommy." He grabbed her tiny hand and helped her wave before leaving.

Daryl arrived barely a minute later. "Where's he goin'?" He asked and referenced to his brother, who was now babysitting their daughter.

"He's just gonna watch over her for a while" She told him casually. "Giving us a little break."

He nodded before sitting down beside her on the cot, on the exact same spot as Merle did. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it lightly. She could feel his chapped lips and hot breath on her skin and it made her tingle in a way that she would never admit aloud. She watched him do that and a part of her wished he would do more. She wanted to kiss him, she didn't know why, she had never wanted to kiss anyone but her husbands, but now, her feelings were all a bundled mess that she could not rationalize.

He looked from her hand and met her eyes and she could feel butterflies in her stomach for the first time in over ten years. They had often stared into each other's eyes, but never like this. Never did this feeling of anticipation or excitement burn inside her with lust and longing. She did not want to have sex with him, but she did not not want to either. He slowly let go of her hand before putting it on her face and leaned in close, taking his time like he was waiting for her to move away or stop him in some way. When she didn't, their lips met and he kissed her. It was a different kiss than the others, it felt planned and it was soft and gentle.

Carol interrupted them by knocking on their bars. She cleared her throat and seemed flustered. "Andrea's leaving" She said with a frown. "Everyone's saying goodbye."

They gave her a car and opened the gates for her. No one was really sad that she was leaving, except for Carol, and the atmosphere was pretty tense. Andrea met everyone's eyes and Armageddon could see how she was searching for someone to ask her to stay, and when no one did, she climbed in the car and left. Rick gave her a knife and a gun and told her to be careful before she left, a sign that said that he still cared even though they could not quite take her in.


	38. Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket

"What's the plan?" Armageddon asked Daryl when Rick, Carl and Michonne had left on a mission to retrieve more guns and ammunition. She, Daryl and Merle were in their cell, with Von who was crawling around on the floor, exploring the environment around her.

"We can't avoid this war" Merle told her.

"Well, we _can_ -" She started, but Daryl stopped her as he had known exactly what she was about to say.

"We're not leaving" He said and looked from Von, who was a few feet away from him and to Armageddon and his older brother. "I'm not."

"So, we're really going to war?"

His answer was a nod.

"Okay."

He looked up and saw her casual facade, making him furrow his brows.

"I'm with you" She told him when she saw his reaction. "All the way, no matter what."

"You know I am too, li'l brother" Merle told him candidly. "Let's take this son of a bitch down."

"You're what?" Armageddon exclaimed, a little too loudly so that Von woke up from her nap and started crying. They were downstairs in the cell block, but somehow she had heard her mother's distress and objected with her. "After everything you said, you're gonna go out there and negotiate?" She asked and furrowed her brows, following him as he ran up the stairs and to his crying daughter.

"Yeah" He said in a matter of fact tone and picked her up. "If Rick thinks it's a good idea, then I'mma come along."

"So, all of a sudden 'fuck war, peace matters more'?" She asked and threw her hands up in the air in frustration.

"Can you calm down?" He requested and tried calming their daughter, but she just wailed and wailed. "Shh, baby, it's okay, it's okay."

"Everything good here?" Someone asked from behind her. Merle.

"I just don't understand" She said and shook her head at him, her attitude much more tranquil now. "After all of that, after losing good people; after Andrea's pleas and us sending her back with threats, all of a sudden now everyone got the memo that we're too grown-up to be feuding and I'm the only one who didn't?"

"What''s there to understand? You said it yourself that war was the last thing we should do" He said and shrugged, bouncing Von on his shoulder and making her slowly more and more calm.

"Yeah, I did, and I meant it."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I just don't think you should go there" She told him and shook her head.

"Then why didn't you just say that?"

"Look, this guy, this _Governor_ , he's a lunatic, Merle all but said it the other day. He's ready to starve us to death because we put a stain on his pride and now all of a sudden he's ready to lay down his weapons and call a truce? You really think that's it?" She asked him candidly and raised a brow. "'Cause I'm pretty sure he'll just massacre all of you on the spot."

"We've got guns now" Daryl told her and brushed her off.

"That don't mean shit."

"Yeah, it does" He said and met her eyes. "We're just as dangerous as they."

"But, that doesn't matter" She argued. "No matter who draws their gun up first, someone's gonna get a bullet. And I don't want that someone to be you."

He looked away, pursed his lips and turned away so that his back was facing her. When he didn't say anything, she continued. "Von can't lose you. I can't either."

He eventually turned around. He approached her and didn't stop until they were almost body to body. "I can't you lose you neither" He said quietly and kissed her on her forehead. "And I won't. I'mma come back here after that and I'mma be just fine."

Armageddon stared up into his eyes and really hoped his words were true. She knew she could not stop him from leaving and she knew Rick had already made up his mind on who was going with him; only Daryl and Hershel, and that was not to be changed. He wanted her to stay in the prison and lead while he was away. She was needed at the prison, he insisted. She could not join them. So she drew a shaky breath and held it, staring deeply into Daryl's clear blue eyes that shone with so much emotion that she could read him every time she looked into them. They looked a bit sunken in because of the bags under his eyes, due to a long-lasting lack of sleep, his skin was a bit darker than the usual Caucasian because of all the dirt and grime that went unwashed, his thin, chapped lips that almost hid under his light brown colored stubble and his bulky body that almost pressed against hers, the only thing between them was their daughter. "Kiss me" She said under her breath.

He leaned in closer and she could smell his breath right before their lips met. It wasn't the best smell, but that smell had become comforting as the time they shared together increased. She appreciated parts of him she thought she never would; she appreciated how overprotective he was with her, she appreciated his musk, his husky voice that sometimes seemed more like inaudible grumble than actual words and she appreciated the way his arms wrapped tightly around her in the middle of the night as they both slept soundly. She knew her feelings were stronger than just appreciation, but she pushed all of that away as she kissed him back and reveled in the taste of his lips. She buried her fingers in his dark brown, wispy hair and felt her knees buckle as he deepened the kiss.

When the kiss ended, he handed Von to her and shared one last look with her before walking to the end of the cell. "Come back to me" She said, stopping him as he was about to leave.

He looked behind his shoulder and nodded. "I will" He told her walking up to her once more. This time, he leaned down to his daughter and kissed her on her forehead. "Bye, sweetheart" He whispered.

"Wave bye-bye to Daddy" Armageddon said and waved to Daryl, making Von do the same. He smiled and then left.

"He's gonna be fine" Merle told her after watching them formally leave. Glenn was closing the gates with Maggie's help, while the rest stood back and hoped for the best as they watched the car and Daryl's motorcycle roar away.

"I know" Armageddon said and met his eyes.

"He's a tough son of a bitch, my brother" He continued and looked back to the disappearing motorcycle. "If he's determined, he'll do anything. And right now and til the day he dies, he's determined to get back to you and Von."

"Fuck this, everybody gear up!" Armageddon called out and started heading back to the prison. "I don't care how well this shit goes, we need to be ready if it don't!"

Nobody complained and everybody took a pistol, loaded a shot gun or a rifle, and armed themselves to the teeth. Glenn gave Carl and Beth boxes of ammunition and told them to stash them outside, if anyone were to be pinned down and in trouble.

"What we should be doing is loading all this firepower into a truck and pay a visit to the Governor" Merle said and stopped Glenn as he was about to head outside, before turning his attention to Armageddon.

"What, and split ourselves into even tinier groups? I don't think so. We'll stay here and fight if that's what it comes to because this is our home and we ain't leaving" She said confidently. "That's to say if they decide to come and attack."

"Aw, come on, sweetheart, don't be such a baby, of course they're gonna come" He scoffed and shook his head at her.

"We ain't havin' this conversation, Merle" She told him in a matter of fact tone.

"Suit yourself" He said and threw his hands up in the air in defeat. "But don't think I won't tell you so when the time comes."

"My Dad can take care of himself" Carl told him.

"Sorry, son, but your Dad's head's gonna be on a spike real soon."

Carl did not reply, just kept on walking away until he was out of earshot. "Don't say that to him" Maggie said to Merle as she loaded a handgun.

"It's not the right move, not now. We can't risk putting them in the crossfire" Glenn said and shut Merle up.

"He's right" Armageddon said. "But, if anything does happen, I'll go there myself and kill that son of a bitch and you'll be the first person I ask to come with me."

Merle tried to leave later on, which resulted in a fight between him and Glenn, who tried to stop him. They were rolling around on the concrete floor, throwing punches and even Maggie and Michonne tried to interfere. It stopped when Armageddon fired a blank shot into the air. "Y'all done now?" She asked and cocked her brows.

"Let's get outta here, just you and me" Merle said and beads of perspiration ran down his forehead after the struggle he had had. "We both know somethin's not right and we can't-"

"We can and we will" She told him coldly. "They're negotiating for peace and we're not gonna prevent that by rolling in guns-ablazing."

"You know there ain't gonna be no goddamn peace!"

"Sit the fuck down, light a cigarette and calm down."

"Why are y'all so hell-bent on making me stay here?" He asked and furrowed his brows at her before averting his gaze to the others.

"Because if something happens, we're gonna need you to help take them down" Armageddon answered. "That would be what Daryl would want."

They all returned safely and unharmed an hour later, just like Armageddon knew they would. After that talk in their cell, she had been fully convinced that Daryl would always return to her and she was going to keep him to his word for as long as they both lived. But, when Rick gathered everyone around in the cell block Armageddon knew that even though they had returned well, they still carried heavy news. The war was still on. "So, I met this Governor," He said and looked from one person to the next. "Sat with him for quite a while."

"Just the two of you?" Merle asked him.

"Yeah."

"Should've gone when we had the chance" He said to Daryl and Armageddon who stood close together. Armageddon pursed her lips and ignored his remark, it was too late to be thinking that now.

"He wants the prison. He wants us gone" Rick continued. "Dead. He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury." He paused for a second, creating a tense silence that was so thick that it cut have cut the air in two if anyone spoke up. "We're going to war."

She did not know why, but that sentence excited her a little bit. A small part of her had always wanted to go to war. She had watched hundreds of war movies, fascinated by both the physical and mental toll it took on soldiers, as well as the mass destruction it caused. Her rational side knew that everything about war was disgusting and unnecessary, but another side of her, a darker side, craved for it. It was after all the end of the world, so wasn't it okay to go just a little bit crazy?

"I'm coming with you" Armageddon said to Daryl and followed him like a lost puppy as he entered the cell block and made his way to their cell. She held an assault rifle that was fully loaded and clean enough to lick, carried two knives - one in her pocket and the other strapped to her ankle - and had a pistol tucked in her cargo trousers.

"No, Rick wants you here" Daryl grunted and jumped up the stairs, only to see their cell empty. He turned to her and met her eyes. "Where's Von?"

"She's with Beth" She answered casually and put her hair up in a bun that she tied with a shoelace.

"Why?"

"'Cause we're both busy."

"What are you doin'?" He asked and furrowed his brows at her.

"I've spent all day cleaning this" She told him and held up the AK-47.

"Rick's just goin' there to talk" He told her.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Last time he did he announced we were going to war. I know this is some kind of ambush, so you best take me with you."

"Why?"

"So we can end this once and for all."

"What, you gon' shoot up the whole place and then run back to the prison?" He asked and cocked a brow at her.

"So, what if I did?" She retorted. "That sounds like a mighty fine plan; take out the head of the chicken, the rest will collapse."

"No. Another person's gonna come here and finish what he started" He told her in a matter of fact tone.

"Then, we'll take them down too."

"It ain't that easy."

"And it ain't that simple that you're all just gonna go there to 'talk' again" She pointed out. "Look, I'm coming whether you like it or not and one way or another end this."

"What if Rick says no?"

"Rick's not the boss of me."

"Who's gonna watch over Von? And the group?"

"Glenn can manage just fine."

"No" Daryl repeated himself and shook his head. "No way."

"Ain't asked your permission, Daryl" She told him in a matter of fact tone.

"You're gonna get yourself killed" He said somberly.

She stared into his eyes emotionlessly and mentally told him that she did not care. Something had snapped inside her and at that moment her rationality was not available to stop her from doing stupid shit, neither was some guy who stood before her.

Their talk ended briefly after that and she did not see him for the rest of the day. She didn't want to either, she was too busy gearing up and strategizing war plans. As she did that, she carved sticks to make their ends pointy and sharp, just to have something to do while she thought, and before she knew it, she had over a dozen of them.

"Hey, Daryl" She called out when she found him in the cell block at dusk. "I made you these." She said and handed him the dozen sticks she had mindlessly carved. She had not intended on making them for anybody but herself, but in the process she realized that they could come in handy as arrows better than jabbers.

"What do you want me to do with that?" He asked and eyed the sticks in her hands.

"For when your arrows finish" She answered shortly.

He met her eyes before nodding curtly and taking them. "Thanks" He muttered under his breath. "You've seen Von anywhere?"

"She's probably with Carol. Why?"

"Nothing" He said before storming off without saying another word.

Half an hour later she was approaching her cell when she stopped. She heard a low voice talking inside and she furrowed her brows as she listened in, curious on what was happening. It was Daryl. When she was at the door, she saw he was talking to Von, who listened intently and babbled her answers back in jibberish. "This whole group's gone wild" He told her. "I really wish you wouldn't have to see it, 'cause they're so much better than that. All of them."

"I'm sorry that I haven't been with you so much" He said sincerely. "I've just had a lotta things to do. I'm sorry, baby girl. I promise as soon as this is all over, I'm gonna spend all of my time with you and so will Mom. We're both so preoccupied with the Governor and I'm sorry about that, but he'll be gone soon and then all will be good again."

Von babbled and reached up for his face, petting it as if she were saying that it was okay. Armageddon smiled at that sight, especially as Daryl's face lit up with joy and love as his daughter did that, and felt her heart warm. She snapped herself out of her thoughts and wiped that smile off her face, however, when she realized that she was too busy to be sentimental. Like Daryl had said, there would be enough time for that later. Now was time to get ready to fight or die.

Hershel, Beth, Carl, Carol, Maggie, Glenn, Rick, Armageddon gathered around in the courtyard at twilight because Rick had something important to inform them. Carol held Judith in her arms while Beth handed Von to Armageddon, the second she joined them. She was happy to see her baby girl, but that happiness was short lived as she saw Rick's grave expression. "When I met with the Governor, he offered me a deal" He finally started and rubbed his index and thumb together as he looked from one person to the next. "He said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne. And I was gonna do that to keep us safe." He paused and waited for someone to comment, but no one did and eventually he continued. "I changed my mind. But, now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late."

"What?" Armageddon said and furrowed her brows at him. She couldn't believe his words, that Daryl would just up and go without telling her, again.

"I was wrong not to tell you. I'm sorry" Rick continued and maintained eye-contact with her for a few seconds before looking over the whole group, addressing not just her but everybody. "What I said last year, that first night after the farm, it can't be like that. It can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, _who we are_ , is not my call. It can't be. I can't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we _are_ the greater good. _We_ are the reason we're still here, not me. This is life and death. How you live, how you die, it isn't up to me. I'm not your governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together. We vote; we can stand and we can fight or we can go."

After that, he left. He left before anyone got the chance to speak up. She could not care less about this war anymore. Now she only cared about Daryl, who had done the exact thing she had hoped he would not do; he was gone to Woodbury to get himself killed. She knew the second any of her people would enter Woodbury, they would be shot dead on sight, despite this 'agreement' Rick and the Governor had come to earlier. After everything she had heard about that man, she was sure he was not a man of his word. So, she handed Beth Von and told her to watch over her before marching to the prison to gear herself up, ignoring Beth and Hershel's calls and tries to stop her. She did not care about going to war with her whole group, she only cared about Daryl and she was ready to take Rambo on this to get him back. Now she was not going to sit around and do nothing anymore, to wait and hope for the best, to obey orders to do this or that because Rick wanted to or for the sake of the group. Now it was time to get the fuck out of there before she would lose yet another person she cared about.


End file.
